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General Surgery Residency

Our primary training facility is an approximately 600-bed, Level 1 trauma and tertiary care referral center that sees more than 2 million outpatient visits and 50,000 surgical procedures yearly.

Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Baylor College of Medicine (Temple) General Surgery Residency is a five-year program that is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The program is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Surgery of the ACGME (last site visit in 2013 with a 10-year cycle in the NAS), and the institution also enjoys Level 1 ACS Accredited Education Institute and ACS Bariatric Center of Excellence status.

Our program combines varied inpatient and outpatient surgical experiences with a simulation-based surgical skills lab and bench and clinical research to create a well-rounded educational experience.

Our graduates have been successful in obtaining fellowship positions in such disciplines as surgical oncology, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, trauma/critical care, colorectal surgery, vascular surgery and cardiothoracic surgery.

We accept six categorical residents per year.

Curriculum

Our sufficient breadth and depth of preoperative, operative and postoperative experiences prepare graduates for certification as Diplomates of the American Board of Surgery but also for careers in the practice of general surgery or sub specialty fellowships.

ACGME case log averages per resident over the last five years are represented below:

Skin, Soft Tissue, Breast 113.3 Non-operative Trauma 35.6
Head and Neck 86.1 Thoracic 58.4
Alimentary Tract 300.4 Pediatrics 65.8
Abdomen 393.2 Plastic 23.8
Liver 9.4 Basic Laparoscopy 221.2
Pancreas 13.2 Endoscopy 125.7
Vascular 112.3 Upper Endoscopy 49.3
Endocrine 58 Colonoscopy 56.1
Operative Trauma 23.2 Complex Laparoscopy 119.9
Total major cases 1197.2
Total Surgeon Chief 218.5
Total Surgeon Junior 931.3
Total Teaching Assistant 57.6

The Department of Surgery has a strong interest in surgical outcomes, quality improvement and patient safety and offers a research fellowship in Healthcare Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Furthermore, our training program effectively uses the ACS NSQIP and QITI programs to introduce and educate quality improvement skills and outcomes assessment to our trainees which are essential skills for the modern practicing surgeon. Regardless of the resident's choice of private practice or an academic career, these issues are shaping the surgical landscape of the future.

Acute Care Surgery

Provides a combination of trauma surgery and emergency general surgeries. Residents care for a diverse population of patients, ranging from those requiring critical care to outpatient and elective surgeries. The service also cares for the majority of inpatient general surgery consults.

Call is divided on average every third night for Chief Resident and midlevel residents, with guaranteed two weekends off per month. Interns are on a night float system divided between four or five interns.

Elective General Surgery

Consists of four independent services that operate on and care for a mixture of inpatient and outpatient surgical patients:

Colorectal Surgery

Provides residents an opportunity to experience patients in an outpatient clinic, perform colonoscopies and operate on colorectal disease. The service employs four colorectal surgeons.

Surgical Oncology

Provides residents an opportunity to care for patients with upper gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, pancreatic and breast cancer. The service employs two dedicated surgical oncologists and additional surgeons caring for breast disease.

Minimally Invasive Surgery

Provides residents an opportunity to operate on and care for a population of bariatric patients while also training residents in robotic and limited incision techniques of laparoscopy. Additionally, residents perform many general surgical operations including laparoscopic cholecystectomy and herniorrhaphy. The service is a Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery and employs three surgeons.

Endocrine Surgery

Provides residents an opportunity to diagnose and treat disorders of the thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and endocrine pancreas. Residents are expected to participate in an outpatient clinic that includes an experience of ultrasound-guided biopsies and laryngoscopy. The service employs two endocrine surgeons and one endocrine fellow.

Vascular Surgery

Residents participate in both open and endovascular surgeries. The service operates in both the main operating room and in the vein clinic procedure room. Residents are trained by six vascular surgeons and two vascular fellows.

Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery

The cardiac and thoracic surgery service includes a progressive experience operating within the thoracic chamber. Residents gain proficiency in esophageal, pulmonary, chest wall and mediastinal operations as well as some experience with cardiac procedures. The service consists of four cardiothoracic surgeons.

Transplant Surgery

Experience on the transplant surgery service includes a close working relationship with the nephrology service at the main hospital. Residents participate in organ procurement, renal and pancreas transplantation and vascular access for renal failure patients. The program is staffed by three transplant surgeons.

Surgical Intensive Care Unit

This service manages all patients in the SICU, including general, trauma, neurosurgical, urological, orthopedic, plastic and gynecological surgery patients. The service is multidisciplinary, consisting of general surgery and anesthesia residents, and is staffed by critical care certified surgeons and anesthesiologists.

Pediatric Surgery

The pediatric surgery service cares for all pediatric patients requiring surgical evaluation, including experience in our NICU and PICU. The majority of services are provided at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center in Temple, which provides experience in both ambulatory and more-complex surgical settings. The service allows residents to work with four pediatric surgeons.

Central Texas Veterans Health Care Center (Olin E. Teague VA)

The Central Texas Veterans Health Care Center is a busy hospital and provides additional general surgery and thoracic surgery experience. Several of the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple staff rotates to the VA Hospital in addition to a core of VA staff general surgeons.

Junior Resident Conference (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Faculty and Chief Residents present selected topics to the first and second year residents allowing the solidification of core surgical principles.

Resident Forum (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Interactive discussion of resident issues, allowing continual improvement of the residency program.

Surgical Competency Conference (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Faculty-directed interactive conference to give a comprehensive discussion of surgical topics that apply to residents of all levels.

SCORE/Textbook Conference (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Chief Resident-lead discussions with faculty support of selected portions of either Schwartz Principles of Surgery or Current Surgical Therapy by Cameron. The SCORE curriculum is used as the backbone for the basis of this conference and the goal of this conference is to reinforce resident reading and acquisition of medical knowledge.

Department of Surgery M&M Conference (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Review of surgical mortalities and morbidities in the Department of Surgery.

Basic Science Lecture (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Basic Science topics pertaining to the physiology of diseases and other issues in the perioperative period.

Critical Care Lecture (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Lectures given by the SICU attendings on current critical care issues.

Surgery Grand Rounds (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Guest speakers from around the country invited to present areas of current interest in surgery.

Student Case Conference (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Approximately weekly conference with case presentations by medical students and interactive discussion following their presentation. Resident attendance encouraged when available with lunch provided.

GME Core Curriculum, Statistics and EBM (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

These conferences are approximately twice monthly and cover topics of EBM, statistics and other items of interest to all GME programs at Baylor Scott & White.

Risk Management Ground Rounds (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

These conferences are approximately every other month as well as online modules and required twice yearly for all residents.  Topics such as medical malpractice, giving depositions, dealing with the difficult patient etc. are covered.

Journal Club (6:45-7:30 a.m.)

Held approximately eight times per academic year, this conference is held after hours at a faculty home and allows for an interactive discussion of current journal articles from the surgical literature combined with a meal for all to share.

Our surgical residents benefit from the Level I ACS accredited Surgical Skills Program that is housed at our primary training facility.

This resource provides valuable learning experiences through:

  • Fundamentals of laparoscopic training sessions: Residents are prepared for the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery certification.
  • Cadaver lab: Residents perform uncommon procedures on cadavers and dissect out complicated and rarely seen anatomy.
  • Mass casualty simulation: General surgery residents and emergency medicine residents participate in simulated events to teach residents about management of limited resources as well as trauma care.
  • Endoscopy simulator: Residents can gain familiarity and skill with the endoscopy instruments on these devices as well as perform virtual colonoscopy and upper endoscopy.
  • Equipment availability: Residents have access to OR equipment in a controlled setting to increase familiarity and practice with these instruments including: laparoscopic instruments, SILS instruments, circular and linear staplers and purse string device.

The Texas A&M-Scott & White Surgical Skills Program is a Level I Accredited Education Institute by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Program for Accreditation of Education Institutes.

 

Texas A&M-Scott & White also is a member of Texas Association of Surgical Skills Labs (TASSL), of which Scott & White faculty have been past presidents. TASSL's mission is to enhance education using simulation-based training for surgery residents and other learners by fostering collaboration and research.

For more information, please contact:
Texas A&M/Scott & White Surgical Skills Program
Cari Furst

Bench and clinical research is encouraged at Texas A&M-Scott & White. There are many resources available to help you achieve your goals. Funding for resident projects is attainable through the Department of Research and Education, the Department of Surgery and grant and extramural sources. Residents have the opportunity to take off time for research if they so desire with appropriate planning, but currently there are no quotas or a set number of residents required to perform years of research.

Research Residents

Recent residents who have taken dedicated year/s for research, their time out of clinical practice and primary location where their research was conducted:

Claire Isbell, MD 2009-2011 University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio USAIR
Hayden Stagg, MD 2011-2012 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Jennifer Dixon, MD 2012-2013 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Dhriti Mukhopadhyay, MD 2012-2014 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Katie Wiggins-Dohlvik, MD 2013-2014 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Nicole Sharp, MD 2012-2014 Mercy Children’s Hospital, Kansas City, MO
Eric Sparks, MD 2013-2015 Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital
Katherine Schnell Gonzalez, MD 2014-2016 Mercy Children’s Hospital, Kansas City, MO
Chad Hall, MD 2015-2017 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Mary M. Mrdutt, MD 2016-2018 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Bobby D. Robinson, MD 2016-2018 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Sam Han, MD 2017-2020 Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
Justin Malek, MD 2018-2020 Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine
Raymond Traweek 2021-2023 MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX

Academic Research Support

Research and Education and Academic Operations have resources available to assist you with the multiple steps that must be taken to conduct your project correctly and meet all federal and state guidelines.

These include:

  • Complete all paperwork for timely submission to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Institutional Review Committee (IRC)
  • Write the consent form
  • Research the appropriate costs and assist you in preparing a budget for your project (Funding is attainable for residents to conduct research projects.)
  • Prepare research packets
  • Screen and consent patients for the study
  • Collect the data at the initial and any follow-up appointments according to study protocol
  • Complete retrospective chart reviews

Research Day

Fellows, residents and medical students are encouraged to submit work relating to basic science, clinical and educational research projects with a focus on trainees' research. The top abstracts will be selected to present at the podium during the research day. Learn more about the annual Research Day.

Additional Available Research Resources

  • Richard D. Haines Memorial Library: Services include computer literature searches, reference and verification, photocopying and interlibrary loans
  • Clinical Data Analysis Lab: Screens medical records for diagnoses or procedures you wish to research, and provides medical record numbers for those patients
  • Biostatistics Department: Provides data form development and statistical analysis of your protocol, including numbers of patients needed for a particular study
  • Publications Department: Takes your rough draft (either handwritten or on computer disk) and put your protocol into the proper format for submission to the IRB for approval, and later for publication
  • Biomedical Communications Department: Has personnel available to assist you with digital imaging, photography and the creation of posters for presentation
  • Train at one of U.S. News & World Report's top hospitals in Texas

    Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple is a 640-bed teaching and research hospital with a Level I trauma center.

Application Requirements

The general surgery residency program is a five-year clinical program. Six categorical PGY-1 residents are matched through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).

We accept applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Foreign medical graduates must hold a valid Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certificate.

General surgery residency applicants must have passed both Step 1 and Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) to be eligible for entry into our program.

Application requirements:

  • Medical School Transcript
  • Three Letters of Recommendation
  • United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Transcripts (Step 1 required and Step 2 preferred prior to extending an interview offer)
  • ECFMG Status Report (foreign medical graduates only)

Deadline for applications is October 23, 2024

We will be following the recommendations made by APDS for the 2024-2025 Residency Recruitment Cycle. After holistic review by the admissions committee, an email notification is sent via Thalamus to applicants who will be invited to interview with our program. All interviews will be conducted virtually via Zoom. 

Interview Dates

Saturday, November 2, 2024
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Saturday, December 7, 2024
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Saturday, December 14, 2024

Contact Us

Latoya Pedican
Phone: 254.724.2366
Latoya.Pedican@BSWHealth.org

General Surgery Residency
Baylor Scott & White Health
2401 S. 31st St.
MS-01-712
Temple, TX 76508

Working at Baylor Scott & White Health

Compensation and Benefits

In addition to competitive stipends, we offer our residents a full menu of employee benefits. We help offset the cost of many of these benefits; others are options you can choose to pay for yourself.

Life in Temple

Temple uniquely offers a combination of access to big-city conveniences while maintaining a small-town atmosphere. Temple has also been ranked among the Top 20 Fastest Growing Cities in Texas and one of America's most affordable places of 2015.

Why Baylor Scott & White

As the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas and one of the largest in the United States, Baylor Scott & White Health includes 48 hospitals, more than 900 patient care sites, more than 6,000 active physicians and more than 40,000 employees.

Check out all of our programs in North and Central Texas