Skip to main content

Introduction

The University of North Carolina Hospitals plastic surgery residency program is a fully accredited 6-year integrated program with two residents in each year. The six years will consist of duties and responsibilities at UNC Hospitals and includes rotations in General Surgery during the first 2 years, and rotations in Dermatology, Aesthetic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthopedic Hand service, Oculoplastics, and Anesthesia during the last 4 years.

At any given time, there will be five plastic surgery residents at UNC Hospitals. Three residents will be on off-core rotations either at UNC or an outside location. The administrative chief resident is responsible for assignment of clinical responsibilities, both in and outside of the operating room, and the administrative organization of the teaching conferences. These responsibilities will be shared between the two 6th year residents.

The plastic surgery residents are responsible for the direct supervision and teaching of PGY1 residents who are on the service as well as medical students on the service.

The plastic surgery residents will share responsibility for taking call for the plastic surgery service during the week, with the organization of the call schedule being the responsibility of the administrative chief resident. Weekend call will be divided equally among the residents at UNC Hospitals and the resident on aesthetic or office-based anesthesia, if applicable. The PGY3 residents will be backed-up by the PGY6 residents. The call schedule for each month should be given to the Program Director no later than the 15th day of the previous month.

The administrative chief resident should supervise the distribution of patients by the medical students. In general, each student should follow patients on whose surgery they have scrubbed.

Questions or problems should be communicated directly to the administrative chief resident, but all residents should not hesitate to directly communicate any questions or problems to the appropriate attending, or ultimately to the Division Chief.

The on-call resident should see consults both in the hospital as well as in the Emergency Department. When the on call resident is unable to see an urgent consult in a timely fashion, particularly because of responsibilities in the operating room, another plastic surgery resident should cover for them.

Weekly Conference Schedule

The Plastic Surgery residents are responsible for attending the following Conferences:

  1. Selected Readings: Wednesdays 7:15am-8:15am, Burnett-Womack 7th-floor Conference Room 7057
  2. Plastic Surgery Conferences: Indications, Morbidity & Mortality, and Research Conference, rotating Wednesday mornings 6:30am-7:15am, Burnett-Womack 7th-floor Conference Room 7057.
  3. Plastic Surgery Grand Rounds, fifth Wednesday at 6:30 am, Burnett-Womack 7th-floor Conference Room 7057.
  4. Journal Club, monthly at the location of choice of the rotating faculty.

There are five weekly interdisciplinary conferences that residents can attend to expand their clinical knowledge base regarding specific areas. These conferences include Orthopedic Hand Conference, Multi-disciplinary Breast Conference, Melanoma Conference, Head and Neck Tumor Board, and Craniofacial Team Conference.

Policy Regarding Vacations, Meetings, and Time Away

  1. All residents will have up to three weeks of time away from the institution each year for vacation. Attendance at meetings, pre-approved by the program director, will not apply toward this vacation time. Time away for job and/or fellowship interviews should not count toward vacation; however, such requests are handled on an individual basis. Time away on mission trips will count towards vacation.
  2. Vacations will run from Monday to Sunday. It should not be assumed that the weekend prior to a scheduled vacation will be given off, but it is certainly reasonable for the residents to arrange the call schedule such that this will be the case whenever possible.
  3. Vacation requests should be processed through the Program Director at least 14 days prior to the planned vacation time. Except in very unusual circumstances, vacations may not be taken in the months of June and July.
  4. Residents are encouraged to attend educational meetings. If a resident is presenting at the meeting, it will not apply toward vacation.
  5. No more than one resident on the core services may take vacation at a time.
  6. The Division will provide financial support for conferences at which residents have an oral presentation, including travel, lodging for two nights, and food, with a maximum reimbursement of $1,500. The Division will provide 50% financial support for a resident attending a conference with a poster presentation.
  7. The Division supports a maximum of 2 conferences per year per resident.
  8. The Division will pay for all expenses for the ASPS Senior Residents Conference as well as the Duke Flap Course.
  9. The Division will provide a discretionary allowance of $500 per year to be spent on educational materials such as books and electronic journals.

Duty Hours

Duty hours must be limited to 80 hours per week, averaged over a four-week period, inclusive of all in-house call activities and all moonlighting. Only the on-call resident is expected to make rounds on Saturday and Sunday. Call will average 1 in every 5 nights during the week and 1 in every 6 weekends. There may be transient exceptions to this when another resident is not available because of vacation, meetings, courses, travel, or illness.

All moonlighting activities must be pre-approved by the UNC GME office and the program director.