Residency and Education

About the Program

Loyola’s program is designed to foster a young physician’s development into a complete surgeon. We want to train surgeons who will become leaders in surgery either in academic or community practice - the person who is called when your relative is truly ill. This individual will be skilled in all components of general surgery as defined by the American Board of Surgery.

First-year residents are responsible for the day-to-day care of surgical patients. As residents progress through the training program, they gain increasing opportunities to develop and hone their operative skills. A senior resident not only acquires operative and patient care skills but develops organizational and educational abilities. Residents normally perform over 90 percent of all surgical procedures under direct supervision of the faculty. A review of recent American Board of Surgery applications indicates a broad and varied operative experience that easily meets or exceeds board requirements.

 All general surgery residents are required to participate in a weekly course designed to expand their knowledge base in the basic science and physiology of surgery as well as its clinical practice. The aim of the course is to teach the basic and clinical sciences, to prepare residents for better patient care and to perform successfully on the American Board of Surgery in-service and qualifying examinations. The three components of the course - basic science, journal club and clinical science - focus on one topic (e.g. esophagus, small bowel, pancreas) as a segment and consist of a combination of short lectures, discussions and quizzes based on assigned readings. Performance and attendance at course conferences are considered in the resident’s overall evaluation.

Other didactic courses are offered to surgical residents. The ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) course is given to all incoming residents. All PGY-1 surgical residents are required to successfully complete the ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) course and PGY-4 residents must be re-certified. Both courses are offered free of charge at the medical center each June.

The success of our efforts is measured by the accomplishment of our trainees. Approximately one-half enter private practice and one-half pursue fellowship training in prestigious programs from coast to coast. Seventeen percent of our graduates since 1984 are in full-time academic practice.

Loyola participates in the NRMP and offers two distinct programs with separate match numbers. One is the categorical program for those applicants who wish to apply for five years of postgraduate training in general surgery. This is suitable for candidates with long-term career goals in general, plastic, cardiothoracic, pediatric surgery or fellowship training in other areas of surgery. The second is a preliminary program for applicants who desire one or two years of a core surgical curriculum in preparation for further training in one of the surgical specialties such as neurosurgery, urology, orthopedics or otolaryngology, ophthalmology, or non-surgical subspecialties such as anesthesia and physical medicine/rehabilitation