Call Responsibilities With the institution of the ACGME-mandated 80 hour work week for house staff, “Call” in the traditional sense has, for the most part, been eliminated from the schedule. Residents are assigned in one-month blocks to specific general surgical services or surgical sub-specialties, and work 12 hour days or participate in a “night float” system with 12 hour night-time shifts on the specific services. Generally, these night rotations are rotated at 2-week intervals with the day rotations within any given service, ensuring equal distribution of educational opportunities and operative experience. The only “Call” taken in the traditional sense within this system occurs on the weekends, where house staff will typically cover 24 hours on any given service for one day out of the weekend, thus enabling them to have the other 2 days of the weekend off. Supervision and Continuity of Care Supervision of residents in training has always been an area of excellence within the Department of General Surgery at Wake Forest University Health Sciences. All surgeons on the faculty maintain busy, full-time clinical practices, and residents participate in the care of every patient seen by the faculty.
In general, residents are given graduated responsibilities in patient care over time, with an emphasis on developing decision-making skills, both within and outside of the operating room. Precocious and thorough development of operative and patient care skills have always been a hallmark of the residency program at Wake Forest, with the expectation being that the graduate of the program will be the “best surgeon within their community” once the program is completed, whether that community involves community practice, academic fellowship and practice, or anything in-between.
This level of skill can only be taught by spending time with a clinically dedicated faculty that participate in the care of their patients in a comprehensive fashion.
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