Resident Training Program
Cagito, Cognitio, Curatio
Overview- the Resident Training Program in Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, Boston Medical Center (Boston University)
Introduction
The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education accredits the Boston University Training Program in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery for training three(3) new residents per year. It is a five year program. The Program offers a large and diverse clinical and surgical experience, close supervision by over twenty-five, full-time faculty, a strong didactic program and opportunity for research in one of the world’s most exciting centers of learning, the city of Boston.
Purpose
The fundamental purpose of the Boston University Training Program in Otolaryngology is to educate and train physicians to function independently as specialists in the field of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery.
This specialty provides comprehensive medical and surgical care of patients with diseases and disorders of the head and neck that affect the ears, the face and its skeleton, the respiratory and upper alimentary systems and structures. Specialists in this discipline have knowledge, skills and understanding of the basic medical sciences relevant to the head and neck, the respiratory and upper alimentary systems, the communication sciences including audiology and speech – language pathology, the chemical senses of smell and taste, as well as allergy, cosmetics, endocrinology, and neurology as they relate to the head and neck. Included are the diagnosis and the medical and surgical therapy, reconstruction or prevention of diseases, neoplasms, deformities, disorders and injuries of the head and neck.
The three elements essential to quality medicine – patient care, teaching, and research – are well presented in our training program, but the major emphasis is on patient care. Duration of training is five (5) years of progressive training in the specialty of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Boston Medical Center and four affiliated institutions. Didactic training in otolaryngology is presented in planned formats throughout the five years.
Organization
The Program Director organizes and supervises the conduct of the training program, which includes establishing over-all policies, procedures and educational objectives of the Program and development and maintenance of an organized program of graduate medical education in Otolaryngology; selection, assignment, supervision, evaluation, counseling and discipline of the residents in the Program; approval and evaluation of the Program teaching staff; assignment of staff responsibilities related to resident teaching and research, and facilitation of faculty appointments; maintenance of necessary records and preparation of reports; establishment of resident training agreements with affiliated institutions and coordination of the Programs activities at such affiliates. The Program Director is responsible to the President of Boston Medical Center.
A Program Advisory Committee, comprised of one or more members of the Resident group and the full time Otolaryngology Faculty, meets at least every quarter to advise the Program Director concerning all aspects of the training program; these include, but are not limited to: didactic activities, including courses, meetings and conferences; policies regarding training, on call schedule, vacation, evaluation, discipline, and other matters relevant to the overall residency training program; performance and progress of the residents; personal needs and problems of each resident; disciplining, when required; awards and recognition; support of the committee recommendations; and selection of resident candidates.
Facilities
The Program utilizes the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) teaching and research facilities, the Boston Medical Center (BMC), and four affliated hospitals: Veteran’s Affairs MedicalCare System, Boston (VAMS); Lahey Clinic Foundation Medical Center (LC); The Children’s Hospital (CHMC); and UMass Memorial Medical Center(UMass).
BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
The Boston Medical Center is a multi-specialty referral institution that is the principal teaching hospital of Boston University School of Medicine and the Goldman School of Graduate Dentistry. It represents the merged Boston University Hospital (Boston Medical Center – Newton Pavilion) and Boston City Hospital (Boston Medical Center – Mennino Pavilion). Most of the hospital staff is based full-time at the Medical Center and the Chiefs of the various departments are also the Chairman of the corresponding departments at the Medical School. The Medical Center is located in Boston’s historic South End, just minutes from the Southeast Expressway and the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Composed of both new and renovated historic buildings, Boston Medical Center has 581 beds and state of the art facilities throughout. Our Department’s clinical facilities are in the Moakley Building which features the latest equipment and technological advancements available today. Cancer care in the Moakley Building is a comprehensive and centralized service expressly designed for high quality care, comfort and privacy. This places Boston Medical Center amoung the best, most advanced, and most integrated cancer care facilities in all of New England. A health care network which includes ten high-volume neighborhood health centers continues the Center’s historic roll as a provider of medical care for all in need. The strength of the merged hospitals is exemplified by the high quality of our training and our status as an ACS verified Level 1 Trauma Center with pediatric commitment. Boston Medical Center is the only Boston hospital to carry this designation. Boston Medical Center is committed to excellence in patient care, advanced clinical research and health-care education.
The Medical Center has been a leader in the field of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, having had a key role in the development of microscopic surgery in the larynx, in the first use of a laser to remove growths from the larynx and in the development of the first laser bronchoscope.
On the Newton Pavilion are special-care units such as the Voice Laboratory, Coronary Care and Intensive Care Units (medical and surgical); the Wald Neurological Unit and the oldest continuous Home Medical Service in America.
The Boston Medical Center’s primary service area includes greater Boston and eastern Massachusetts; however, it receives referrals from throughout New England and the world. It has over 26,000 yearly admissions.
The Otolaryngology Department provides all diagnostic and medical and surgical services in the specialty. Particular strengths of the department include head and neck surgery, maxillofacial trauma surgery, cosmetic plastic surgery, and pediatric otolaryngology. All services are directly supervised by the full-time academic otolaryngologists; however, the “Chief Resident” is provided the opportunity to “manage the service”.
VETERAN’S AFFAIRS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, BOSTON
The Veteran’s Affairs HealthCare System, Boston (VAHS) is a tertiary referral center and one of the largest Veteran’s Affairs hospitals in the United States. Inpatient facilities are centered at VA West Roxbury, and the outpatient clinics and day surgery are centered at the VA Jamaica Plain, both in Boston. It receives general otolaryngology and head and neck oncology patients from the region’s other Veteran’s Affairs hospitals for diagnosis and definitive treatment. In comparison with all hospitals in the New England area including private, academic and public, VAHS Boston cares for the largest number of head and neck cancer patients, with over 100 new cases per year. It actively participates in head & neck cancer research. It also cares for a wide spectrum of adult, general otolaryngologic pathology.
All otolaryngology staff have academic appointments at Boston University or Harvard University and are Board certified in Otolaryngology. Full-time and part time attending staff provide close supervision and teaching for the residents. The medical oncology and GI sections have been recognized as among of the finest in the United States. The radiation medicine and medical oncology departments receive patients in referral from other New England Veteran’s Affairs Hospitals and have a high level of expertise.
LAHEY CLINIC MEDICAL CENTER
The Lahey Clinic Medical Center is a private, multi-specialty group of 140 physicians with its own 272 bed hospital located in the city of Burlington approximately 15 miles from downtown Boston. It has always been involved in significant academic activities, including post graduate teaching and research. The members of the otolaryngology department hold faculty appointments at Boston University School of Medicine. They are superb teachers who are also nationally recognized for their clinical excellence, representing a variety of subspecialty disciplines. The department members participate in national committee assignments in the specialty and regularly present and publish papers in scientific journals.
A wealth of clinical material of wide ranging complexity is available for resident teaching. The number of surgical operations performed is over 60 per month and includes a variety of procedures.
A striking feature of the Lahey Medical Center is its high efficiency in both organizational structure and delivery of patient services. Residents learn that highly complex services can be provided efficiently with maximal efficacy.
THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, BOSTON
The Children’s Hospital, Boston, is the largest children’s hospital in the United States. Besides providing primary care in pediatrics, it is an academic tertiary referral center that provides a wide variety of diagnostic and treatment services in pediatric subspecialties that are available in few, if any, locations elsewhere. It receives patients not only from the northeastern United States but also in large numbers from around the world. The hospital is heavily endowed and is among the first ten recipients in NIH funding for research. The Department of Otolaryngology receives more than one million dollars per year in direct cost NIH funding to support research in otitis media, respiratory papillomatosis and other projects.
The department is staffed by eleven full-time pediatric otolaryngologists who are national and international authorities in pediatric otolaryngology, leaders in national academic otolaryngology societies and highly skilled surgeons and teachers. The extraordinary volume of pediatric patients seen in the clinic and admitted to the service provides a unique learning opportunity in all phases of pediatric otolaryngology, particularly the. diagnosis and management of airway disorders, otology and neoplasms of the head and neck. The resident shares this educational experience with a resident on rotation from the Training Program of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
THE UMASS MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
The UMASS Memorial Medical Center is a 600+ bed, tertiary care, level 1 trauma center located in Worcester, Massachusetts, approximately 40 miles west of Boston. The Department of Otolaryngology consists of 5 full time otolaryngologists, but our affiliation is specifically with Richard Gacek MD, Director of Otology and Neurotology. Residents spend two to three days per week with Dr. Gacek in the Otology clinic and in the operating room participating in Otology and Neurotology cases. The operative case load is roughly 20-25 cases per month consisting of the full range of tympanomastoid surgery, stapes surgery, cochlear implantation (2-3 per month), acoustic neuroma surgery and other skull base lesions.
The Otolaryngology faculty of all of the hospitals is full time- academic faculty with appointment from Boston University School of Medicine.
Boston Medical Center:
Scharukh Jalisi MD, Skull base surgery
John E. Gooey, MD, Head and Neck Microvascular Surgery
Jeffrey Spiegel, MD, Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Head & Neck Microvascular Surgery
John R. Stram, MD, Allergy and General Otolaryngology
Elizabeth Mahoney MD, Allergy and General Otolaryngology
Pieter Noordzij MD, Voice and swallowing, General ORL
Anand Devaiah MD, General Otolaryngology
Michael Platt MD, Sinus disease
Charles W Vaughan MD FACS, Academics, e-learning
Zhi Wang, MD, Director – Otolaryngology Center for Innovative Technology
L. Clarke Cox, Ph.D., Director of Audiology
Veteran’s Affairs HealthCare System, Boston:
Lahey Clinic:
Roger Hybels, MD, General Otolaryngology
R. Kirk Bohigian, MD, General Otolaryngology
John H. Romanow, MD, General Otolaryngology and Endoscopic Sinus Surgery
Timoty Anderson MD, General ORL, Voice and Swallowing
The Children’s Hospital, Boston:
Dwight Jones, MD, Director of Medical Education
Margaret Kenna, MD, Director of Cochlear Implants
Greg Licameli MD
Reza Rhabar MD, Secretary NEOS
Roger Nuss, MD, Director of Voice Lab
David Roberson, MD, Research Coordinator
The UMASS Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts:
Content of the Teaching Program
Resident Compensation and Benefits
Cagito. v. to consider thoroughly, to ponder, to weigh, reflect upon, think.
Cognitio.v. becoming acquainted with, acquiring knowledge, knowledge as a consequence of the exercise of our mental powers.
Curatio.v. taking care of something, administration, management; In medici., healing, cure
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