Residents attend various departmental and division conferences on a regular basis. They make daily inpatient staff rounds, assist in major surgical operations and perform minor procedures under supervision. A mentor from the Division of Head and Neck Surgery is assigned to each student to monitor progress through the program and to assist the student should any problems arise. The latter is important to emphasize since the Residency Review Committee requires that 4 year programs allocate up to 6 months of research only which we don't think is sufficient. These two and a half years are devoted to the acquisition of a good foundation in the basic principles of otolaryngology.
Residents develop the ability to use the tools of the field under close supervision of the faculty.
They are introduced to head and neck and otolaryngological surgery by assisting the faculty in the operating rooms. After achieving a basic knowledge of the procedures, residents perform surgical procedures under supervision. They serve as consultants to the hospital emergency room service and take consultations requested by other services, reviewing cases with. As part of the initial training experience, residents rotate through surgical pathology and radiology in order to gain proficiency in these fields. This training is utilized when residents present cases at the weekly Head and Neck Tumor Board.