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Program Overview

St. Joseph’s Health is an academic tertiary care medical center and state designated trauma center, located on the Paterson campus.

The medical center offers full complement of specialty and subspecialty services including ambulatory, behavioral health, cardiovascular, emergency/trauma, internal medicine, neuroscience, oncology, orthopedic/spine, rehabilitation, surgical specialty, women’s health, imaging and pediatrics.

In addition, the plastic surgical residents receive additional exposure to cases at St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Health urgent care in Totowa and at a new campus in Rochelle Park.

St. Joseph’s is one of the 5 Regional Cleft/Lip Craniofacial Centers in New Jersey and a level II Trauma Center.  The hospital has a Cardiovascular Center that offers Adult and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, has a Comprehensive Stroke Center and a Perinatal Care facility operating a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  St. Joseph’s also became the first accredited geriatric emergency program in New Jersey.  The dedicated geriatric Emergency Department at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson is one of just nine departments in the country.

Mission

The Mission of the program also incorporates that of St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, which is to render quality healthcare with a special concern for the poor and to improve the health of the people and communities it serves.

Our mission is to prepare our residents to leave the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery program as confident, independent, competent and responsible plastic surgeons with high moral and ethical character.  We train our graduates to perform at the highest level and expect them to become skilled board-certified professionals.  The program trains our residents by integrating the six ACGME core competencies with the hospital’s mission and vision of serving their community with dignity, charity, justice, stewardship and excellence.

Goals:

The goal of Joseph’s University Medical Center’s Plastic & Reconstructive Surgical residency is to assure the provision of safe and effective care to the individual patient; assuring each resident’s development of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to enter an unsupervised practice and establishing a foundation for continued professional growth.  The educational components are as follows:

  • The program will provide residents the opportunity to learn the basic sciences as applied to plastic surgery.
  • The program will provide an experience in preoperative, operative and postoperative care for patients in all areas that constitute the principle areas of general plastic surgery (reconstructive, hand, craniomaxillofacial, pediatric aesthetic, dermatology, lasers and burn).
  • Residents will have the opportunity to maintain continuity of care for their patients. This will be provided in the clinic setting as well as working in private physician offices.
  • Residents will be given specific goals and objectives for each clinical rotation and will be provided feedback for each rotation in the form of online evaluation by the faculty on New Innovations.
  • Rotation evaluations will be summarized and provided to the resident on a quarterly basis.
  • The program will provide an adequate number and variety of cases as determined by the ACGME for achievement of operative skills.
  • Education conferences will also be provided to enhance the acquisition of knowledge and technical skills.
  • The program will maintain a work environment that is optimal for resident education and patient care, and to avoid undue stress and fatigue. The environment must be safe with adequate sleep, food and facilities.  Work hour rules will be enforced.  Mental and emotional support, supervisory lines of responsibilities and grievance policies are provided.

Salary and Benefits:

The current salaries:

  • PGY-6 $74,978
  • PGY-7 $78,304
  • PGY-8 $81,630

Additional benefits include:

  • Four weeks’ vacation
  • Twelve paid sick days / holidays.
  • Maternity/Family Leave
  • Health & Dental Coverage for residents and eligible dependents
  • Professional Liability Insurance
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Meal Allowance

Board Pass Rates: Of the seven prior fellows, four have passed both the ABS and Plastic Surgery Boards. The three recently graduated residents are in the process of taking their ABS.