Plastic Surgery Integrated Residency

Residents at the PGY-4 level participate in and teach an 8-week course in Plastic Surgery Anatomy. This course includes cadaveric dissections that are related to common procedures performed in Plastic Surgery, including fasciocutaneous and muscle flaps, head and neck dissections, hand and wrist dissections, cosmetic procedures, as well as trunk and lower extremity flaps and dissections. The PGY-4 residents complete the dissections overseen by a faculty mentor and then present their prosections to the plastic surgery section. This course solidifies and improves their anatomical knowledge.

All residents participate in microsurgical skills labs beginning at the PGY-1 level. Throughout the academic year, there are numerous microsurgical animal lab practice sessions with upper-level residents and faculty teaching and assisting lower-level residents. During the PGY-4 year, a one-week, intense micro-surgical course is taught by fellowship-trained microsurgeon faculty. Residents are free from all clinical responsibilities to maximize their training experience. This course and the practice sessions allow for the early development of exceptional microsurgical skills, thus helping to optimize patient care.

Multiple skills labs are given throughout each academic year and include nerve dissection and repair, wrist kinematics and reconstruction, facial fracture reconstruction, Moh's reconstruction, tendon repair, and upper extremity splinting labs. These skills and simulation labs help to solidify resident knowledge and technique translating directly to the operating room and the wards.

With our emphasis on research, many of our residents graduate with multiple publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. We feel it is important to reward residents for their work, thus all travel expenses are covered for presentations of original research at local, state, national, and international meetings. To assist in your research, we have an efficient and robust research department with institutional and foundation funding options available.

A unique component of our training involves participation in our resident-run academic trauma and cosmetic service. This service was built to give residents unsurpassed autonomy and hands-on training in running their own practice. Residents at the PGY-5 and 6 PGY-6 levels rotate on the service three months per year. With the oversight of a faculty mentor, the academic chief resident manages and maintains all inpatient and outpatient, clinic-based consults for the Plastic Surgery Service at Corewell Health in West Michigan. This resident-run service cares for a diverse patient mix with a strong emphasis on complex facial trauma, lower extremity and trunk reconstruction, body contouring, breast surgery, and upper extremity conditions. The resident, along with the faculty mentor runs an office-based clinic for one and a half days each week. Although there is faculty supervision, residents assume and guide the care of all patients, including operative plans, booking cases, and postoperative care. We feel this model maximizes resident autonomy, maintains continuity of care, develops key patient management skills, and builds practice management experience. This is truly a resident-run academic practice, unlike any in the country, and prepares our residents for practice in the real world.

Program focus

Plastic surgery integrated curriculum (13 four-week blocks)

Didactics

Average ten hours per week of protected time for high quality educational curriculum and include:

• Weekly basic science covering selected readings in plastic surgery, Grabb & Smith, Neligan’s Plastic Surgery, as well as flaps and syndromes
• Weekly faculty teaching conferences, oral board review format
• Weekly hand surgery conferences with chapter review of Trumble Principles of Hand Surgery and Therapy, and Green’s Operative Hand Surgery
• Weekly plastic surgery grand rounds; follows a three-year curriculum and includes monthly morbidity & mortality review
• Weekly faculty-directed walk rounds
• Monthly journal club graciously hosted in faculty homes or offices, includes critical appraisal of current plastic surgery literature through an evidence-based medicine approach, as well as interesting case review

Our residency program is committed to the wellness of our residents and faculty. Being a physician is a higher calling and honorable profession. It can be extremely rewarding, yet emotionally and physically exhausting. Psychological, emotional, and physical well-being are critical in the development of the competent, caring, and resilient physician.

Here are a few examples of our culture!

All applications are accepted through the Plastic Surgery Application Service. For application information, contact program coordinator, Sue Hartert by email or at 616.391.1909.

All visiting medical student applications must be submitted through the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities program. For more information on visiting medical student opportunities, visit our Visiting Learner page.

Corewell Health in West Michigan provides a comprehensive and very competitive benefits package for our residents, staff, and their families. In addition, our program provides educational monies to support your ongoing education. Download our salary and benefits document to learn more.