Curriculum

Valve Conference: every Monday, 7 a.m. Discussion of complex valve cases. Residents on the cardiac service will be expected to attend.

Resident Conference: every Monday, 5 p.m. Residents meet one-on-one with faculty to review and discuss selected curriculum topics from the STS Learn cardiothoracic surgery clinical materials.

Aortic Conference: every second Tuesday, 7 a.m.

CTOP: every Tuesday, noon. Tumor board conference to discuss pre- and postoperative thoracic surgery patients. Residents on thoracic surgery service are expected to attend.

Cardiac Cath Conference: every Tuesday, 4 p.m. Discussion of complex coronary cases. Residents on the cardiac service are expected to attend.

Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident Conference: every Wednesday, 7 a.m. Attendance is required. Schedule rotates as follows:

• Grand Rounds/Cardiac/Thoracic Conference. A 45-minute discussion with slide presentation on the assigned topics. Grand Rounds will focus on a broader issue surrounding our patient population (i.e.; vascular surgery, pulmonary medicine, cardiology, anesthesiology, minimally invasive approaches), whereas the cardiac and thoracic topics will mirror the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association curriculum more. Residents may expect topic assignments for presentation, up to one per month. (Cardiac, first Wednesday; Thoracic, second Wednesday; Grand Rounds, fourth Wednesday of each month)

• Morbidity and Mortality (third Wednesday of month) Residents should plan to lead the discussion for Morbidity and Mortality. Ideally the talk should focus on 3-4 patient examples (2 per resident) of recent complications on cardiac and thoracic surgery, and evidence-based examples of how to avoid or better-approach a similar event.

• Cardiac Quality Conference (third Wednesday of month, 8 a.m.) This is similar to Morbidity and Mortality. We specifically discuss any mortality, and other quality issues effecting cardiac patients. Residents on the cardiac service will be expected to attend.
• SESATS Questions (fifth Wednesday of month as they occur) Every month with a fifth Wednesday we review board-exam style questions led by cardiothoracic faculty, with resident and audience participation.

Sarcoma Tumor Board: every other Thursday, 4 p.m. Sarcoma tumor board conference to discuss pre and post-op esophageal cancer patients. Residents on thoracic surgery service are expected to attend.

GI Tumor Board: every Thursday, noon. Tumor board conference to discuss pre- and post-op esophageal cancer patients. Residents on thoracic surgery service are expected to attend.

Lung Transplant Section Meeting: every second Thursday, 7 a.m.

Heart Transplant Section Meeting: every Friday, 7 a.m.

Journal Club: meets quarterly. Each resident should expect to present 1-2 assigned articles to the group for discussion on a topic relevant to cardiothoracic surgery. Often collaborated with another subspecialty.

Mock Orals: semi-annually in the fall and spring. The faculty host mock oral examinations for the residents to prepare the resident for the second stage of American Board of Thoracic Surgery exams.