Senior Resident (PGY-4, 5)
Generally the senior resident will have the day-to-day responsibility of organizing and running the service to which they are assigned.
They are accountable for all aspects of care including preoperative evaluation, participation in the OR (as surgeon or first assistant), postoperative care, and a post discharge follow-up visits for all patients admitted to their assigned service. The senior resident also has a greater role in teaching and supervising the junior surgical residents and medical students.
PGY-4
During the fourth year, the resident will function in a senior capacity on the Advanced Laparoscopy/Bariatrics, BEST (Breast / Endocrine / Soft Tissue), Nightfloat, Thoracic, Vascular, and Colorectal services.
The PGY 4 resident will also have the opportunity to complete an outside elective of his/her choice, pending approval of the Program Director.
| PGY-4 Rotation Breakdown 2024/25 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rotation | Length | |
| Advanced Laparoscopy / Bariatrics | 8 weeks | |
| Thoracic Surgery | 8 weeks | |
| Colorectal Surgery | 8 weeks | |
| Vascular Surgery | 8 weeks | |
| Elective | 4 weeks | |
| Night Chief | 4 weeks | |
| Community - BEST | 4 weeks | |
| Acute Care Surgery | 4 weeks | |
PGY-5
During the fifth year the Chief Resident is responsibility for all aspects of patient care with an emphasis on independent decision-making.
The basic concept of an increasing level of responsibility is that the fifth year permits fine tuning of a resident's operative, clinical, and intellectual skills. This approach results in a sophisticated and knowledgeable practitioner in the art and science of general surgery as well as providing a superior foundation, should the resident decide to pursue a fellowship. Graduating residents have also had extensive exposure to both advanced laparoscopic surgery and bariatric surgery.
Following new guidelines by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) and the American Board of Surgery (ABS) Upstate has implemented increased rotation flexibility for our Chief Residents, based on their career plans.
Our program has always provided a large clinical volume with the average case numbers for our graduating chiefs at far greater than that required by the RRC. As our ORs were shut down for multiple weeks during COVID and we faced significant OR limitations due to man power issues thereafter there was a dip in overall numbers, but we still had all residents way above the requirements. Here are some charts regarding the case numbers of our chief residents:
| PGY-5 Rotation Breakdown for 2024/25 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rotation | Length | |
| Surgical Oncology / Hepatobiliary Surgery | 8 weeks | |
| Community - General Surgery | 8 weeks | |
| Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital | 8 weeks | |
| Crouse - General Surgery | 8 weeks | |
| Crouse - Colorectal Surgery | 4 weeks | |
| Acute Care Surgery | 4 weeks | |
| Night Chief | 4 weeks | |
| Community - BEST | 4 weeks | |