UW General Surgery Technical and Professional Skills

Technical and Professional Skill Curriculum Overview

Welcome. Over the course of the residency in Surgery, you will be asked to become a technically proficient surgeon and a leader in your profession. The Department of Surgery residency programs have developed a technical and professional skills curriculum to help you meet these goals. This curriculum includes everything from the initial Boot Camp during PGY-1 orientation to numerous group discussions and simulation labs during our surgical science series, to the self-guided EVATS portfolios. This curriculum evolves yearly.

A few notes:

  • Most group sessions and also the individual skills training (EVATS) are held in the WISH (WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare) facilities at Montlake or Northwest campuses or the 9th and Jefferson Building at HMC. Please make sure to check in anytime you are using WISH – this helps WISH track usage and allows us to ask for more and better financial and technical support for educational resources.
  • The WISH lab at Montlake is available for use after hours with badge access. Please make sure to register for access with the WISH personnel.
  • Each service (colorectal, MIS, etc) is responsible for updating content related to their field, and the overall curriculum is guided by Dr. Karen Horvath as the Program Director and Dr. Andrew Wright as Director of Technical and Professional Skills Education. For questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Wright at awright2@uw.edu.
  • EVATS Kits: We have a limited number of kits available for checkout that contain instruments, suture pads, knot-tying boards, etc. Residents may check out a kit from a WISH tech, but please make sure to return the kit at the end of the EVATS rotation. Practice suture may be obtained from the suture wall – remember that this is for practice only. This suture is outdated and not for human use.
  • There are number of key resources used in the technical skills curriculum.This includes a national technical skills curriculum developed by the Association for Program Directors in Surgery and the American College of Surgeons. Please sign up for all 3 phases of this curriculum at: https://www.facs.org/education/program/resident-skills

 

Dr. Horvath has written a Technical Skills Manual which is a fantastic guide for how best to approach your own learning in technical skills.

Modules: