General Surgery Residency
Introduction
The Department of Surgery of the Albany Medical Center shares the tripartite goals of the Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York - Education, Patient Care and Medical Research.
Located in the capital city of New York State the Albany Medical Center Hospital , a 631 bed tertiary care facility and New York State designated level one trauma center performs over 30,000 surgical procedures each year. Training programs exist in General Surgery as well as the surgical specialties of Neurological Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology and Urology. Advanced training is offered in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery (including Bariatric Surgery), Plastic Surgery, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery. An Integrated Training Program in Plastic Surgery is also offered for medical student applicants. All of the training programs have full ACGME accreditation.
The General Surgery Training Program at the Albany Medical Center dates back to the concluding years of World War II when Dr. Eldrige Campbell formalized the residency in Surgery. Under Drs. Charles Eckert and Samuel Powers the program prospered, training a generation of General Surgeons who became board certified and carried their mentors' skills and talents to serve the wider geographic area of the Northeast.
The faculty of the Division of General Surgery now number 27 with representation from all of the principle, secondary and tertiary areas of General Surgery. These include breast, endocrine, gastrointestinal and colo-rectal, oncologic, pediatric, trauma, transplantation and vascular surgery. Our residents work with all of the faculty, gaining experience in all areas of General Surgery. Over 10,000 General Surgery cases were performed in 2006 with resident participation in virtually every case. Graduating Chief Residents have completed over 1100 major cases representing an experience that places them in the 90th percentile of national resident case experience. Chief residents generally complete over 350 cases during the final year of residency training. Rotations to the Samuel Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (a 158 bed facility adjacent to the Albany Medical Center) and to St. Peter's Hospital (a 452 bed general hospital) round out the resident's clinical experience.
Resident Opportunities
There is ample opportunity for residents to join our faculty in their clinical research endeavors. With the adjacent medical college, New York State Wadsworth Laboratories and Ordway Research Center there is a great opportunity to participate in both basic science and translational research proximate to the Medical Center campus. The Center's association with Rennselear Polytechnic Institute, The State University at Albany School of Public Health and a score of local colleges and universities provide additional opportunities for creative research opportunities with advanced degree options available at these institutions. Each resident at the PGY-3 and PGY-4 levels is required to prepare and present a scholarly research project at the annual Research Paper Day in June. We expect that many of these projects will eventually be presented or published regionally or nationally.
Residents are involved with medical students at all levels of training. We hope that in teaching others there is an inestimable benefit to the resident. All resident participate in daily work rounds, weekly teaching rounds and in student tutorial sessions. A close working relationship of faculty, residents and students creates an environment that fosters dynamic learning by all.
Graduates of our training program have uniform success in completing the certification process of the American Board of Surgery. Most go on to fellowship training in the subspecialty areas of surgery - usually achieving their first choice of training program.
Resident Duties
The On-Call duties of residents have been adjusted as part of the implementation of New York State regulation 405.4 and the recent ACGME mandate on work hours of trainees. These regulations are seen as an asset to the program and do not hamper the proper clinical experience of our surgical residents. Chief residents generally take call from home, except when covering the Acute Care Surgery service (every third night). Senior and junior residents generally cover, on average, every 5th night throughout the year (varying from every third on Acute Care Surgery and at the Veterans Hospital). There is a board eligible/certified surgeon in house at all times for immediate resident consultation.
Evaluation of resident performance by faculty and peers occurs during and at the completion of each rotation assignment. The faculty and Chief Residents meet quarterly to formally evaluate resident performance. A letter of evaluation is generated and provided to the resident. Subsequent to this meeting the Program Director meets with each resident to review the evaluation and discuss remediation. A yearly in-training examination is used to assess strengths and weaknesses in both basic and clinical science. An oral examination (mimicking the exam of the American Board of Surgery) is provided for all residents at the PGY-3 level and above.
Residents have the opportunity to evaluate the rotations, faculty and program in general in an anonymous way. These comments, as well of those of a resident's committee are provided to the faculty at the quarterly faculty meeting.
The city of Albany provides an environment that is best characterized as a "university town" with an affordable standard of living, excellent schools and a variety of reasonable housing choices. We are committed, as an institution and as a Department, to excellence in the three areas of our mission - Education, Patient Care and Research. We welcome your inquiries.
For more information and applications, please address your inquiries to:
Anthony J. DeLuca, MD
Associate Program Director
Division of General Surgery
Albany Medical College
47 New Scotland Avenue - Mail Code 61
Albany, New York 12208-3478
