The Seton Hall University General Surgical Residency Program at St. Francis Medical Center is a highly integrated educational experience, composed of a number of pedagogical experiences designed to help doctors develop into caring surgeons.

Mentoring
During the course of the first year, each resident selects a faculty mentor who will provide career guidance, direct his/her research, serve as an advocate, and be available for personal counseling and support.

The Personal Development Plan
During the first year, each resident develops a personal development career plan with the support of his/her mentor and the program director. The plan is reviewed annually with the program director and revised as necessary.

Orientation Program
New residents experience a one-week orientation, during which they become familiar with St. Francis Medical Center and Seton Hall University School of Health & Medical Sciences’ policies and procedures; review HIPPA and OSHA requirements; receive BLS and ACLS certification; do pre-employment physicals and have opportunities to socialize with peers, senior residents and faculty.

Formal Educational Forums
The curricula presents a variety of educational forums where residents acquired basic scientific and applied surgical knowledge, formal education in research methodologies and presentation, an understanding of medical ethics, and applied knowledge of compassionate care and patient communications. Residents are expected to be prepared for these experiences and to give presentations as designated. Attendance at these forums is mandatory and recorded. These experiences include:

•    Formal didactics focusing on medical and surgical knowledge
•    Attending / Faculty Lectures — Mondays, 7:15- 8 a.m., faculty didactics of subspecialty topics.
•    Basic Science/Clinical Reviews — Wednesdays 9 a.m.-Noon, led by the program director.
•    General Surgery Morbidity/Mortality Conference — Wednesdays, 7:30 -8:30 a.m., residents present cases that go into their educational files. Presentations include a brief narrative of the case, pertinent studies, the surgical procedure(s), chronology of complication(s) and treatment(s), and classification of complication(s) (disease, judgment, technique or diagnosis). Presentations are first reviewed with a senior resident and the attending surgeon.
•    Surgical Grand Rounds — 1st Wednesday of the month following M/M Conference, 8-9 a.m., speakers discuss general and specialty surgical topics.
•    Chairman’s Conference — Tuesdays at noon, chairman leads discussions of systems-based practice and professionalism.
•    Program Director Rounds — Thursdays at 2p.m.
•    Tumor Board — Wednesdays at  noon, presentation and discussion of hematology/oncology cases by attending physicians.
•    Mock Orals — Fridays, 7:15-8 a.m. conducted by Dr. D. Christian.

The mission of the Seton Hall University General Surgery Residency Program at St. Francis Medical Center is to enable physicians to become surgeons dedicated to clinical excellence and compassionate patient care by providing a strong educational foundation and professional orientation that will enable its graduates to practice surgery and participate in lifetime learning.

The program provides organized, systematic, didactic instruction and training in the basic disciplines necessary to understand and manage diseases and conditions amenable to surgery. With exposure to a wide variety of clinical situations; excellent instruction and supervision; and periodic review by teaching faculty, surgical residents and nursing staff, the resident surgeon becomes accomplished in diagnosis and treatment, and assumes increasing responsibility for the care of the patient. From the first year forward, depending upon complexity of the presenting problems, resident surgeons conduct pre-operative evaluations, perform surgical procedures and manage post-operative care of assigned patients under the supervision of the patients’ attending physicians and senior residents.