During the second year, the trainee focuses their experience in cardiac surgery. The faculty set specific goals for the trainees, the first and most important being that the trainee obtain the basic core information necessary to make appropriate surgical judgments for thoracic and cardiac procedures. Secondly, that the trainee has excellent technical exposure and will acquire the skills necessary to provide superb cardiothoracic care to their patients upon completion of the training program. And third, that the trainee be given the opportunity for academic exposure to provide the basis for additional training and fellowship experience in transplantation or pediatrics, if the trainee desires to pursue career objectives in these areas. The faculty of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery is responsible for not only the training of the cardiothoracic resident, but also for general surgical residents and medical students who rotate on the service.
Medical students rotate as part of their core elective.
Their educational experience is in part didactic through a basic surgical course as well as practical with rotations through the clinic and on the floors and participation in the operating room. A faculty mentor is assigned to students who work with them on a weekly basis. During their initial experience, they are familiarized with techniques in critical care, work-up and evaluation of the thoracic patient and basic operating skills. As a second-year resident, the focus is more in terms of placing invasive monitoring catheters, more active participation in the operating room, and acquiring skills appropriate for a general surgeon. The thoracic educational program is both didactic and practical.