General Surgery Residency Columbia - Curriculum

General surgery serves as an important foundation for any surgical resident. Our residents gain experience in general surgery from a wide variety of surgeons on different campuses. 

Prisma Health Richland Hospital

This is our primary academic/teaching hospital, and the major teriary referral center for Columbia, South Carolina. Residents see patients in the elective clinic and operate on both elective and emergency general surgery cases in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. 

Prisma Health Baptist Hospital

Residents work with multiple surgeons including those trained in general surgery and minimally invasive/bariatric surgery at Baptist Hospital. Two new da Vinci Xi robotic systems with dual consoles area available for residents to learn and gain progressive experience in a wide variety of "bread and butter" as well as more complex procedures.

Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge Hospital

Senior level residents rotate in an apprenticeship model with a general surgeon and former graduate of our residency program, Dr. Martin Mirra. This is one of our most highly rated rotations, where residents are able to have a high degree of autonomy while experiencing what a true general surgery practice is like. 

Dorn VA Hospital

Led by the previous Prisma Health Residency Program Director, James Nottingham, MD, Dorn VA Chief of General Surgery, this rotation exposes residents to a wide range of medically and surgically complex patients. Residents cover the ICU and General Surgery with a dedicated APP staff to assist. Depending on their interest, residents also have the opportunity for addtional exposure to thoracic and vascular surgery during their time at the VA.

The acute care surgery service allows residents to learn independent decision making and operate on the sickest of the sick in their time of most need. While this is an opportunity to see a large volume of common general surgery emergencies such as appendicitis, cholecystitis and diverticulitis, you never quite know what will come in the door that will need your expertise. Residents also gain experience by independently running the acute care surgery clinic once a week. 

Residents on this service gain experience on a wide range of surgical oncology principles and procedures. There is an emphasis on complex hepatobiliary surgery including major liver and pancreatic resections, but residents will also develop their skills and knowledge in breast, GI, skin and soft tissue malignancies, utilizing both open and minimally invasive (laparoscopic and robotic) techniques. 

This rotation is offered at Prisma Health Baptist Hospital, the major Bariatric Center of Excellence in the region. Residents hone their skills in complex laparoscopy including Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy and duodenal switch procedures, performed both laparoscopically and robotically.

Residents get experience at a busy Level I Trauma Center for both adult and pediatric patients. As a trauma chief, you will have your finger on the pulse of trauma and learn to manage multiple teams, assign cases and operate independently. 

The STICU rotation teaches our residents how to care for the most surgically complex patients in the hospital. Christopher Watson, MD, and his team of trauma/ACS attendings teach residents to manage ventilators and perform independent bedside procedures (ie: bronchoscopy, tracheostomy, central lines).

You will also learn how to have difficult conversations with patients and their family members regarding their diagnosis and prognosis, a skill that becomes invaluable as you progress in residency and beyond. Richland is also home to a well-regarded surgical critical care fellowship that many of our own residents have chosen to complete. 

Residents work in Prisma Health Children's Hospital, a referral center for a 17-county region including Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, in a busy pediatric surgery practice which performs more than 4,000 procedures per year. Residents take care of the full gamut of pedatric surgical patients, including in the OR, clinic, PICU and NICU. 

Vascular surgery at Prisma Health Richland Hospital allows residents the opportunity to get hands-on experience with cutting edge technology to perform a variety of open and endovascular procedures, such as thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) and carotid endarterectomies. This rotation offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with attendings while managing a very busy service.

Residents have the opportunity to work with seasoned general surgeons in a community-based hospital in Sumter, South Carolina. This rotation is consistently a favorite of our residents, where they have the opportunity to take a unique look into rural practice, gain skills in a different clinical environment, work with a group of talented, hard-working surgeons, and serve a grateful patient population. 

The plastic surgery rotation allows residents to focus on complex wound closure, reconstruction and surgical techniques. Residents have the opportunity to work with and learn from residents in our integrated plastic surgery residency program in a collegiate learning environment. The coalescing of both programs contributes to a greater camaraderie within the entire surgery department.    

This rotation allows in depth experience and hands on training with our busy division of urology. Consisting of eight urologists, many also have additional advanced specialty fellowship training. Residents get exposure to not only the basic and common urological procedures and complaints, but also major resections of the kidney, prostate and bladder.

Medical University of South Carolina, the busiest renal transplant center on the East coast, houses residents from across the state for their transplant rotation. While at MUSC, residents can go on donor runs and assist in harvesting and transplant procedures.

This is the resident’s greatest opportunity to flex their decision-making muscles. Residents cover emergency consults, operative consults and trauma activations while in-house at night.

Although there is always an in-house attending available for advice and assistance, this rotation allows a significant amount of autonomy while independently managing the many problems that may arise each night in the hospital.