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Educational Curriculum

Dr. Ephros, seniors and chiefs conducting a virtual surgical planning session

Drs. Bolding and Szumita conduct a cadaveric TMJ arthroscopy simulation

The Curriculum, Goals and Objectives document, along with the weekly rotation grid and the OMS Resident manual provides a very detailed description of the program.  In summary, the four years of OMS training provide a graduated sequence of experiences of increasing complexity alongside a well-developed didactic program that integrates basic science with clinical topics.  Residents advance from year to year and are given increasing levels of responsibility commensurate with the level of training and demonstrated knowledge and skills.

  • PGY 1 residents spend their time in physical diagnosis, Family Medicine, Anesthesiology and on the OMS service at SJUMC.
  • PGY2 residents rotate to the VA for six months and spend the other half of the year on General Surgery and Internal Medicine rotations.
  • Residents return to the OMS service as PGY3s, developing dentoalveolar and maxillofacial surgery skills and functioning as sub-chiefs.  Rotations on Esthetic Facial Surgery and Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery also take place in the third year.
  • During the PGY4 year, residents serve as chiefs, running the OMS service and operating with related services as well.  There are no scheduled rotations during the fourth year, but the chief year does provide residents with the opportunity to participate in medical mission trips and to wrap up research projects.

A comprehensive didactic program has been developed to exceed published standards and to provide a basis for successful performance on board examinations.  This includes weekly didactic seminars, monthly grand rounds, journal club sessions, morbidity and mortality reviews, case presentations and interdisciplinary conferences such as cleft palate/craniofacial team meetings, comprehensive cancer conferences surgical/orthodontic conferences and implant treatment planning sessions.  Each resident participates in a head and neck cadaver dissection course and receives instruction in the ethical requirements for research as well as study design and statistical analysis.  All residents must achieve and maintain certification in advanced cardiac life support, pediatric advanced life support and advanced trauma life support.  An oral and maxillofacial pathology review course is conducted throughout the year correlating clinical issues with histopathology.

Residents are required to participate on an ongoing basis in scholarly activity.  Those activities may include: research - clinical or laboratory based, case reports for publication in the literature, production of abstracts for publication and/or presentation at major meetings and the presentation of educational programs in the hospitals, in study groups and/or at community functions.  Study design and statistical analysis are included in the didactic curriculum and a statistician/educator is on site and available to assist in protocol development and the analysis of study results.

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