In addition to rotations in general surgery and vascular surgery service, extensive experience in surgical critical care is acquired in the Burn ICU, the Surgical ICU, and the Shriners Burns Hospital. At the completion of the second year, the residents are encouraged to spend one or two years in research under faculty supervision. During postgraduate years 3 and 4 residents are given increasing responsibilities. Residents at this level serve as senior residents on pediatric surgery, transplant and thoracic surgery. Much of the rest of the time is spent as a senior assistant resident on general surgery or vascular services.
Additional time is devoted to rotations on surgical endoscopy and laparoscopy.
The PG-5 house officer, or chief resident, supervises an entire service in close collaboration with the faculty attending. Eight to nine months are spent on General Surgery services and three to four months on the Vascular Surgery service. At the end of the five years of training, all residents are eligible to take the examination of the American Board of Surgery. The program is rectangular rather than pyramidal and obtaining complete training will fulfill the requirements of the American Board of Surgery, providing that a house officer's work is satisfactory. The Division of General Surgery has 10 clinical services.