Core Conferences
The core conferences are the most important conferences in the surgical residency program and are the basis for the clinical aspect of surgical education. These conferences are held regularly on Thursdays and Fridays and attendance is mandatory for all residents in the program. The core conferences consist of weekly general surgery morbidity and mortality conferences and bi-monthly surgical grand rounds as described below. All core conferences are conducted through the video conferencing system with residents and medical students attending at all three campuses. Residents from the Northeast Campus in Grand Forks attend through the conferencing facilities at the Altru Health System. Residents at the Southeast Campus in Fargo attend through the conferencing facilities at either Meriticare Medical Center or UND Medical Education Center which are both located in Fargo. In addition, third and fourth year medical students at all of the clinical campuses including Grand Forks, Fargo, and Bismarck attend through video conferencing facilities in these locations.
Morbidity and Mortality Conference - The General Surgery Morbidity and Mortality Conferences are held on a weekly basis each Thursday morning from 7 am - 8 am. This conference is based on the surgical cases that have been done in the week prior to the conference. All cases done during that time period are included on a weekly list. In addition, all complications, mortality, or unexpected outcomes are listed separately. These cases are then presented by the responsible resident in a brief and concise fashion. Residents are expected to be familiar with the background, material, and surgical rationale leading to the operative intervention as well as any alternative methods of management that could alter the outcome. Each case is then discussed amongst the attending surgical faculty and resident staff as educational objectives are addressed.
General Surgery Grand Rounds - General Surgical Grand Rounds are held on the first and third Fridays of each month except for the month of July. Topics include new and recent innovations and changes in general surgery as well as comprehensive reviews of pertinent surgical topics. The first Friday of the month is allocated to a grand rounds presentation by the resident staff while the third Friday of the month, grand rounds are given by the attending staff or a visiting professor.
Surgical Education Conferences - Educational conferences in basic science topics, professionalism & ethics topics and critical care topics are held for one-half hour immediately after surgical morbidity and mortality each Thursday morning. This is a rotating schedule that also includes medical student presentations as well as other educational topics that are pertinent to the residency program. These educational conferences are also mandatory for all residents.
Program Wide Conferences
Journal Club - A surgical journal club is held on the third Tuesday of each month from 7-9 pm in the evening. This is held at Hillsboro, North Dakota, a site midway between Grand Forks and Fargo. Journal articles are discussed over dinner with all residents and faculty at both the Fargo and Grand Forks Campuses. The journal articles are based on the Evidence Based Reviews in Surgery, a joint program of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons. Typically a clinical article and a methodological article are discussed. Biostatistics and epidemiology faculty from the UND Medical School or the VA Medical Center are invited.
American College of Surgeons Exam Review - A review session is held every two weeks after each exam based on the American College of Surgeons textbook chapters. A surgical attending who has prepared the exam reviews the exam and pertinent parts of each chapter. This is generally held on a week day morning at 7:00 am immediately following the exam.
Campus Specific Conferences
Northeast Campus, Altru Hospital
Teaching Conferences - Monday morning from 7-8 am - Conferences are held for trauma and critical care. The first and third Mondays are dedicated to critical care conferences which are held in the surgical critical care unit. These are conducted by Dr. David Antonenko, a fellowship trained critical care specialist. Critical care rounds may be in either a bedside teaching format or a didactic discussion format regarding current and controversial critical care topics. In addition, a critical care conference dedicated to pharmacologic management is held monthly. A clinical pharmacologist from Altru attends to facilitate discussion of pharmacologic therapy in surgical patients. Trauma conference is held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. This is a case presentation conference where residents present interesting trauma cases from the prior two weeks. Second year residents are responsible for gathering and presenting cases at this conference.
Vascular Conference - On the first Wednesday of each month, a vascular conference is held from 5-6 pm. This conference is dedicated to vascular cases. The Department vascular surgeons as well as interventional radiology and vascular medicine physicians attend. The conference is based either on case presentations or didactic discussions.
Surgical Pathology - On the fourth Thursday of each month, a surgical pathology conference is held with a senior pathologist at the School of Medicine. A particular topic is discussed at each of these conferences. The surgical pathology conferences are correlated with the assigned readings from the American College of Surgeons textbook allowing residents to correlate pathological interpretation with their basic surgical knowledge.
Sample Conference Schedules
