Residents have the benefit of providing total patient care from initial patient contact onward. Generally, the resident who sees the patient does the physical, performs the surgery, and provides all postoperative care. All of this is done under the direction of the responsible attending, while the call resident directs the evaluation and management of the major trauma patients. Broad operative experience includes most facets of general, vascular, thoracic, and trauma surgery, as well as some plastic and reconstructive surgery. Surgical volumes are high, and residents perform 150-250 cases during their Wake experience.
Residents participate daily in surgical clinics to enhance their learning opportunities.
In short, the resident plays an integral role in providing patient care. The hours are long but very satisfying. Specialty Training In the Orthopaedic Teaching Service, established in 1991, academic surgeons work closely with a superb community of private orthopaedic surgeons. A single Urology resident rotates through WakeMed under direction of a private urology service. Since 1990, there have been two-month rotations by the Oral Surgery residents.