Weill Cornell Medicine NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program enrolls 2 residents per year in a 4 year track certificate based residency program. There are 2 major sites for the residency program: Weill Cornell Medicine NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital which is located on the Upper East Side of New York City and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens which is located in Queens, NY.
The PGY 1 & 2 Years
The emphasis during the junior surgical residency is the primary care of the surgical patient. The junior surgical residents are directly responsible for preoperative and postoperative care, with progressive operative and anesthesia responsibilities.
Patient care is supervised by the more senior resident staff and the attending staff, which allows the junior surgical resident to take on the responsibilities of primary patient care in an atmosphere that fosters constant learning from more experienced surgical personnel. The junior resident becomes familiar with medical problems that face each surgical patient. Significant operative experience in the clinic and operating room is obtained under the direct supervision of senior residents and attending surgeons in areas of dentoalveolar, dental implants, trauma, and orthognathic surgery.
During the Fall and Winter of the PGY-1 year, the residents are enrolled in a physical diagnosis course. The curriculum focuses on reviewing components of medical history, discussing principals of major medical conditions such as cardiopulmonary diseases, digestive diseases, hematologic complications, medications, and management of medical conditions in the post-operative period. This course takes place in both the classroom and the inpatient setting with live patients.
During the first year of training, residents are predominately stationed to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery service where they work in resident clinic, faculty practice, and the operating room. During the PGY-1 year, residents begin their anesthesia training. Following completion of 2 months of anesthesia training, the PGY-1 residents can start to run sedations in the clinic for outpatient procedures.
The first year resident along with the other junior residents participate with a rotating call schedule providing backup to the General Practice Dental Residents who are responsible for taking 1st call at both Weill Cornel Medicine NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital.
During the second year of training, the resident continues pre-operative and post-operative care, and in addition, takes on more operative and teaching responsibilities. There is additional exposure to anesthesia, general surgery, ENT, and facial plastic surgery through rotations at Weill Cornell NewYork-Presbyterian.
Rotations on general surgery, ENT and facial plastic surgery provide the junior resident with the opportunity to evaluate surgical patients de novo and gain with experience with acute care surgery.
The PGY 3 Year
The focus of experiences gained during this year is on the development of advanced surgical judgment in and out of the operating room. The transition from junior resident to chief resident is developed during this year, as the senior resident assumes major responsibility for the day-to-day activities of the surgical inpatients, directly supervising the junior resident staff. Advanced elective and emergency surgery are performed by the third-year resident on the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Service. The PGY-3 resident serves as the chief resident and primary operative resident at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital where they gain significant hands on training in major operative procedures with a heavy emphasis on trauma, oncologic, and dentoalveolar surgery.
The PGY 4 Year
The chief resident hones his/her surgical judgment and skill during these years but also assumes many other primary responsibilities. These include the supervision of junior and senior surgical residents in the overall care of surgical patients and the direct instruction of the team assigned to their service.
The two chief residents alternate in 6-month blocks assuming the role of administrative chief and education chief. The Administrative Chief Residents are responsible for assisting the Chair and the Program Director in the overall administration of the division relative to the surgical residency. The education chief is responsible in assisting the Program Director to coordinate of the division’s didactic calendar.
In the operating room, the Chief Resident becomes skilled with most Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery procedures, gaining hands-on experience in the more complex surgical procedures and is involved in the operative teaching of junior residents.
Advanced elective time is available during the fourth year in areas such as full arch rehabilitation with dental implants and complex bone grafting.
The PGY-4 residents also complete a 1-month rotation on pediatric anesthesia which provides experience in management of the pediatric airway and administration of drugs.