Educational Opportunities for Otolaryngology Residents
To lay the groundwork for clinical and research exposure, the department maintains a comprehensive lecture and conference curriculum for the ongoing education of residents and faculty. All faculty participate in delivering lectures and hosting journal club gatherings. There are also a variety of departmental conferences that involve other departments that we frequently collaborate with. Having all residents at one major academic medical center for their clinical activities fosters collaboration and makes it more convenient for residents to attend conferences.
All faculty participate in giving lectures to the residents. Lectures occur on Monday afternoon at 5 pm and Wednesday morning at 6:45 am. The format varies between traditional format lectures, case based discussions, and Board-style exercises. Many of the faculty or specialty areas have a two-year rolling curriculum of lectures.
Wednesday morning conferences
Each week, the entire department gathers for an educational activity from 7:30 to 8:30 am. The format for this conference varies from Grand Rounds presentations by the residents, Morbidity and Mortality conference, Audiology conference, Neuroradiology conference and others.
Temporal bone lab
This activity occurs on one Wednesday morning each month throughout the year. Drs. May and Oliver organize a logical progression of dissections that involve the entire temporal bone. We are fortunate to have a newly-renovated temporal bone lab with state-of-the-art drill and video systems. Video cameras mounted to each microscope allow images to be projected onto a large flat screen monitor to enhance the learning experience.
COCLIA and Bailey’s Readings
These educational activities are primarily for residents, with occasional participation by faculty. Residents meet on Wednesday mornings for about one hour, immediately following the departmental conference. They prepare responses to the COCLIA (Comprehensive Otolaryngologic Curriculum, Learning through Interactive Approach) questions in advance of this meeting and discuss their results. Two to three chapters from the Bailey’s textbook are chosen that correlate with the COCLIA topic. Residents in their early years of training are encouraged to read the Bailey’s text carefully, as it forms an excellent foundation for an Otolaryngology knowledge base and serves as a wonderful resource to review for national exams.
This conference occurs on Wednesday afternoons from 4 to 5 pm. All residents that are not involved in critical patient care activities attend. We have a strong collaboration with an excellent group of audiologists and speech pathologists that deliver a broad range of lecture topics that runs on a two-cycle. This allows each resident the opportunity to encounter topics twice during their training.
Journal club occurs monthly over dinner and provides an excellent opportunity for residents and faculty to discuss current scientific literature in the setting of a nice social gathering. These meetings usually occur in the home of a faculty member. Five to ten journal articles are covered with a focus on critical evaluation of research methodology, validity and merit.
There are a number of collaborative, clinically based, multidisciplinary conferences that occur throughout the year that residents attend and usually have participatory roles. The Head and Neck Tumor Board occurs every Monday at noon. At this conference, new cancer cases are presented for discussion along with members of the medical oncology, radiation oncology, pathology and radiology teams. We also have a monthly Pediatric Hearing Loss/Cochlear Implantation conference where complex clinical cases are presented and discussed with audiologists and speech pathologists.
Harrill Lecture/Visiting Professors
The Harrill Lecture serves as our major alumni gathering and occurs every spring. We invite a nationally recognized leader in our field with the support of an endowment from the family of Dr. James Harrill, the founder and first Chair of our department. The invited lecturer, along with residents and faculty from our department, participates in a day of lectures and panel discussions. Many private practice otolaryngologists from the region also participate in the event. A formal dinner gathering follows, with spouses and significant others invited to attend.
The department also receives educational grants from a variety of sources to invite distinguished otolaryngologists from around the country to give lectures to our group. The format has traditionally been a dinner/lecture on a Tuesday evening, with physicians from the community invited to attend. The lecturer then gives grand rounds to the department the following morning. These interactions have been very valuable experiences for the residents, allowing them to hear a lecture from a unique perspective and establish contacts for the future.
National and Regional Meetings
Traveling to regional and national meetings allows residents to gain a broader perspective in otolaryngology education and collaborate with professionals from around the country. Residents are required to submit a research project to these meetings. PGY3 and PGY5 residents attend the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, which occurs in the fall. PGY4 residents attend the Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meeting. PGY3 residents also attend the annual North Carolina / South Carolina Otolaryngology State Meeting.
PGY4 residents have traditionally attended a craniofacial plating course pending availability of travel support. In recent years, PGY3 residents have attended the annual Pediatric Otolaryngology endoscopy course, which is organized primarily by the programs at UNC and MUSC.