Residency

Introduction

The major objective is the education of neurosurgeons motivated toward, and capable of, a career in either an academic or private practice setting of the highest quality. This process begins with a selection of individuals demonstrating ample intellectual capacity, high moral standards, humanistic attitudes and scientific interests who are willing to make a serious commitment to an intense, demanding educational experience. The process proceeds with an interaction of a dedicated, committed faculty with the resident neurosurgeon.

Facilities Overview

The Oklahoma Health Center is a large medical campus located immediately northeast of downtown Oklahoma City and just south of the State Capital Building complex. It has direct access to Interstates 35 and 40-the major north-south and east-west highways linking the region. The Oklahoma Health Center comprises over twenty biomedical enterprises. The largest of these is the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). It also includes the OU Medical Center (OUMC) hospital complex, the State Health Department, the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Dean McGee Eye Institute, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, and multiple biotechnology and biomedical research corporations.

The OU Medical Center has separate adult hospital and children's hospital facilities operating under a joint agreement among the University of Oklahoma, the State of Oklahoma, and HCA, a corporation which owns and manages a large number of hospitals throughout the country. There are over 600 beds handling over 28,000 admissions annually. It is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Oklahoma. Currently OUMC is engaged in a $130 million facility expansion program including a new centralized Emergency Department, ICU's, and expanded operating facilities.

Over 35,000 people representing institutional employees, students, patients, and visitors converge on the Oklahoma Health Center daily, making it one of the southwest's largest comprehensive academic health centers.

The Oklahoma Health Center operates under the basic philosophy that Oklahoma's growing health needs can be met only through the combined efforts of its citizens, practicing health professionals, government, and the OU Health Sciences Center

OU Health Sciences Center (OUHSC)

OUHSC includes the College of Medicine, and the Colleges of Dentistry, Allied Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and the Graduate College. It is instrumental in providing and developing improved methods of health care delivery for Oklahoma. Including a second smaller medical campus located in Tulsa, there are approximately 3,000 students enrolled in the more than 60 graduate and undergraduate degree programs.

The College of Medicine is OUHSC's largest college and includes the Department of Neurosurgery. The College of Medicine's educational programs include a total of approximately 600 medical students, 600 residents and fellows, 102 physician associate students, and over 100 graduate students in the biomedical sciences. All College of Medicine physician faculty are members of the OU Physicians faculty practice plan. That plan has witnessed a very healthy growth in its patient base and has maintained a positive bottom line for a number of years.

The State and the City

The State of Oklahoma offers a pleasant four-season climate with short, mild winters and over 300 days of sunshine per year. There are over 77,000 acres of parks and recreational areas, and the State's numerous lakes provide more miles of shoreline than the east and west coasts combined. Oklahoma invests heavily in cultural activities, and ranks 17th nationally in per capita spending on the arts.

Oklahoma City has a population of over 500,000, and the population of its metropolitan area exceeds 1,000,000. The city has been rated 9th in the nation by Expansion Management Magazine for economic growth and development. It is a pleasant, safe city with a large land area (621 square miles). Traffic flows easily and downtown parking is ample. Within the city housing of every type and price is available in both historic and new neighborhoods. The prices for real estate are among the lowest in the country, and the cost of living is quite low.

Oklahoma City is pursuing an ambitious development plan, which has attracted considerable national attention. Complete cultural and entertainment facilities include the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which contains the world's largest Dale Chihuly glass sculpture; the 20,000 seat Ford Center, where internationally known celebrities perform; a large Convention Center; the Civic Center Music Hall, which is home to the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Ballet Oklahoma, and the Canterbury Choral Society; the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center; the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum; one of the top ten zoos in the country; the Myriad Botanical Garden; and the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory. A large number of restaurants, entertainment facilities, and retail stores are situated along a newly developed mile long landscaped canal.

Sports attractions include 22 public golf courses, a new triple A baseball stadium, the University of Oklahoma teams in nearby Norman, Oklahoma, and a seven mile system of lakes which will soon connect the North Canadian River to the downtown canal. There are also numerous parks, community centers, and public facilities for tennis and water sports, and the Oklahoma City paved trails system.

Five public and private universities are located in the area, and a downtown consortium offers adult education at convenient hours. The city school system is excellent, and there is a 700 million dollar initiative underway to provide every student with a new or renovated school building equipped with the latest computer technology, and a brand new fleet of school buses.

The Will Rogers World Airport, which is currently undergoing expansion, provides non-stop flights to both coasts and 17 major cities.

Residency Program

At the present time, the Department of Neurosurgery accepts one resident per year. The Residency Program is currently 7 years long, including the Internship year. Residents interact with a variety of specialties throughout the campus including Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuro-Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otorhinolaryngology, and Neuropathology. The first year post-graduate is divided between 6 months of General Surgery and 6 months of required Neurology and Neurosurgery. The first through fourth years of Neurosurgery are comprised of rotations as Assistant Resident in the Center hospitals, as well as rotations in Neuroradiology, Gamma Knife, and Neuropathology. During this period, residents are also often allowed time off service for on-campus elective rotations. The fifth year is spent in the Neurosurgical Research Laboratory. The sixth year Senior Resident oversees the cases at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Oklahoma, while the seventh year Chief Resident coordinates the adult and trauma cases at the Presbyterian Hospital.

Conferences include a weekly Monday morning organizational conference, a monthly Morbidity and Mortality conference, a bi-monthly neuropathology conference, a bi-monthly Friday morning board review conference, and monthly grand rounds, journal club, and neuro-ophthalmology conferences as well as three or four case conferences with the faculty spread throughout the month.

Required clinics consist of a Monday morning resident clinic run by the chief resident, a Monday afternoon VA clinic run by the VA/Children’s chief, and a Thursday afternoon children’s clinic also run by the VA/Children’s chief. There is a Children’s Clinic on Monday morning that runs concurrently with the resident clinic. The lab resident is exempt from the Thursday clinic to allow for continuity in the lab.

Call Schedule

The on-call residents cover Presbyterian Hospital, University Hospital, Children's Hospital, and the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center, all within walking distance. Sleeping quarters are in the Presbyterian Hospital.

For residents in the PGY-2 through PGY-5 years, in-house call rotates between the on-service residents and is typically every third, fourth, or fifth night depending on vacation and rotator schedules.

For residents in the PGY-6 and PGY-7 years, backup home call alternates one week at a time with a resident covering a weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and the following week until Thursday, at which point the call rotates to the other chief.

Our residency program strives to be in full compliance with all ACGME duty hours policies and our call schedule plan supports this compliance.

Additional Resources

Residents have access to a library of current neurosurgical reference books located in our main office. In addition, each beginning PGY2 receives a $1000 loupe fund and each subsequent year receives $800 in funds to buy texts of his or her choice.

A cell phone is provided by the department for business use.

In addition, there is a separate office space in our main office for the residents consisting of a conference room as well as cubicles for three residents and separate offices for the PGY5 and PGY6 residents. The chief resident has an office in the main office near the staff offices.

Also, residents who have material accepted for presentation at national meetings are usually allowed to attend at the expense of the Department.

Vacation

Residents are allotted 3 weeks of paid vacation per year, not including attendance at national neurosurgery meetings or fellowship interviews.