Program Overview
The Mount Carmel General Surgery residency training program offers a fully-accredited 5-year program designed to qualify residents for the American Board of Surgery examination and Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons. The surgical program is non-pyramidal and has 18 residents: three categorical residents per year and three preliminary interns.
The residency is based out of two of our main hospitals, Mount Carmel East and Mount Carmel Grove City. Our residents also rotate at an outpatient facility, Taylor Station Surgery Center as well as at Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital in Westerville, the Ohio State University Medical Center (for a one month transplant experience during the third year) and Nationwide Columbus Children's Hospital (for two months during the third year).
The backbone of our program is an extensive and broad-based operative experience beginning in the intern year. As a community-based tertiary referral center, we are able to offer a case mix with a large amount of general surgery cases – like hernias, cholecystectomies, SQ mass excisions – which are often lacking at university programs, while also providing a steady number of more complex cases – like pancreaticoduodenectomies, esophagectomies, advanced minimally invasive cases, et. al – which are limited in many community-based programs.
Drs. Maurice Page & Brandon Murphy ('18) along with NP Nancy Earls & Chief Surgery Clinic Staff
Our residents receive a wide spectrum surgical experience, including training in head and neck, cardiothoracic, endocrine, trauma, hepatobiliary-pancreatic, gastrointestinal tract, pediatric, breast, oncologic, plastic and transplant surgery. Extensive peripheral vascular experience includes endovascular surgery, while an advanced minimally invasive experience includes laparoscopic esophageal procedures, colectomies, adrenalectomies, pancreatectomies, and splenectomies. Our residents are also involved in a busy bariatric surgery service that includes open, laparoscopic and robotic gastric bypass procedures.
During the PGY V year, the chief residents are responsible for running their own service with relative autonomy – in accordance with ACGME guidelines. This aspect of our program is uniquely beneficial to our chief residents and essentially functions as "finishing year" during which they function as junior attendings.
Our alumni have consistently praised the Mount Carmel PGY V experience as a year which greatly enhanced their autonomy and produced a greater level of confidence and competence relative to their peers from other programs. Representative of this is the following correspondence I received from Dr. Scott Armen, one of our 2005 graduates, when preparing a presentation on our chief year at the 2018 American Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS):
Scott B. Armen, MD, FACS, FCCP, FCCM
COL, MC, USAR
USAR Trauma & General Surgery Consultant to the Surgeon General
Vice-Chair for Quality & Patient Safety, Department of Surgery
Chief, Division of Trauma, Acute Care, & Critical Care Surgery
Trauma Program Medical Director
Associate Professor of Surgery and Neurosurgery
Penn State College of Medicine
"The Mount Carmel Chief experience functioned as a transition to practice year, and words don't do justice to the magnitude of appreciation I have for the experience. It, combined with the faculty and exceptional mentors, made me the surgeon I am today. I owe the clinic service and faculty an innumerable debt and will forever hold the most sincere gratitude for the opportunity."
The Mount Carmel operative experience is supplemented by a strong academic curriculum with didactic and interactive conferences on a daily basis during the work-week. Our current academic calendar is available under the academic schedule tab. These conferences are enhanced by podcasts on a private website, which is used to supplement many of the lectures and has given our residents greater flexibility in learning opportunities. A sample of one of the podcasts is available here.
The surgery residency has committed to consistent adherence of the 80 hour rules adopted by the ACGME. Categorical and preliminary interns are offered identical inpatient operative experience, rotations, call and benefits. Senior residents enjoy the added benefits of a built-in moonlighting call schedule which provides significant enhancement to their baseline salary and patient care experience.
The atmosphere in our program is family-friendly and collegial, with extremely good working relationships amongst residents and attendings. This is fostered in part by the residents having significant input into the direction of the program and during the application process. Additionally, the size of the program results in the residents and attendings working together frequently enough to develop both close professional relationships and friendships.