The General Surgery Residency is one of the largest general surgery programs in the United States. Our five-year, non-pyramidal program offers a broad exposure to general surgery and the surgical subspecialties in a community setting. This experience is coupled with a commitment to resident education and research consistent with university affiliation.
About the Program
Director: Rebecca Mae Tuttle, M.D.
The department's focus on general surgery assures the resident comprehensive exposure to the depth and breadth of clinical surgery required for entry into either the private practice of general surgery or further fellowship training.
Eight categorical PGY-1 residents are accepted annually. Our full accreditation status, through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, permits eight categorical residents to complete the program every year. In addition to the 40 categorical residents, five to eight non-categorical PGY-1 residents are accepted annually into our program. These are individuals seeking subsequent training in a career that does not require completion of the full five years of general surgery or are residents interested in general surgery yet have not secured a categorical position.
Completion of the entire five-year program ensures the resident a comprehensive experience with all major components of general surgery. This is accomplished by the participation of five diverse hospitals totaling 3,200 beds, and by the absence of competing subspecialty residency programs or fellowships. Outpatient experience is also extensive at the two federal facilities, in private physician offices and on the staff surgical services at the private institutions.
Residents in the program are given faculty status as resident instructors in the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. As such, they are expected to provide education to undergraduate medical students. They are also required to contribute scholarly activities by preparing an original effort which can be submitted to a local, state, regional, national or international scientific or professional organization for presentation, or to a recognized professional journal for publication prior to program completion.
Residents must perform in a consistently satisfactory manner during each service rotation. They are expected to read and understand the basic and current surgical literature and to demonstrate this knowledge base through satisfactory performance on the annual American Board of Surgery In-Service Training Examination (ABSITE®) as well as on the periodic basic/clinical science examinations conducted within the department.
Performance in all of these areas is reviewed semi-annually by the department Clinical Competency Committee, which includes representatives from all five participating hospitals, as well as two elected resident representatives. No resident will be advanced to the next level of training without committee review and approval.
The formal teaching conferences and research opportunities are described on the Curriculum page.
Please review the material posted and feel free to contact the program coordinator, Christina Molnar at christina.molnar@wright.edu, if you have questions that are not answered on these pages.
Message from the Residency Program Director
Message for Military Medical Students
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Message from the Residency Program Director
We appreciate your interest in the Wright State University General Surgery Residency Program. Located in Dayton, Ohio, our program has evolved since 1979 into a multihospital residency with both clinical and academic strengths.
Initial appointment to the first postgraduate year is offered only through the National Resident Matching Plan (NRMP) via ERAS or through the Air Force Military Selection Board. Approximately one third of our residents are active duty U.S. Air Force officers. We seek to have a diverse group of individuals to train in general surgery.
Our residency utilizes three acute care adult hospitals, two federal hospitals (VA and Air Force), and the regional Dayton Children's Hospital. There is correspondingly a mix and variety of surgeons including academic and community faculty along with the Air Force and VA faculty. This allows us to satisfy three goals. First, all our graduates are sufficiently prepared to start a general surgery practice. Second, they are competitive for subsequent advanced residency/fellowship training programs. Finally, they are prepared and trained to begin a career in academic surgery if that is their preference.
At the completion of five years, our most recent graduating residents had performed 900-1,000 major surgical procedures, and fulfilled all case requirements in the defined categories of general surgery.
In addition to the yearly American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination, we also administer mock oral exams yearly to our PGY-3, PGY-4 and PGY-5 residents. All of these activities are designed to prepare residents for the American Board of Surgery qualifying and certifying exams.
Of the individuals completing our program, 45 percent have entered directly into the private practice of general surgery. Half of these are located in Ohio, while the other half have established their practices in virtually every state of the union. Several graduates have also served as missionary surgeons in third world countries. Thirty-five percent have entered active military duty as general surgeons. The remaining 20 percent have entered fellowships in plastic surgery, general vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, colorectal surgery, transplant surgery, trauma/critical care, minimally invasive surgery, hand surgery, or surgical oncology, and many of these residents have begun careers in academic surgery.
We thank you for your interest in our program and look forward to hearing from you.
A Message for Military Medical Students
Are you interested in a career in surgery? We invite you to consider what is available at Wright-Patterson Medical Center. We think our program is one of the best-kept secrets in Air Force Graduate Medical Education. And once you hear what we have to offer, we think you'll agree.
Wright-Patterson is partnered with every major hospital in the Dayton area to form the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine (WSU BSOM) Integrated General Surgery Residency Program. The other member hospitals are Miami Valley Hospital (a Level I trauma center), Kettering Medical Center, Dayton Children's Hospital (a pediatric trauma center) and the Dayton VA Medical Center. Each facility brings a different perspective to the residency and you will rotate at each site. This integrated design to our training exposes our residents to a great variety of clinical approaches to surgical care, including all major sub-specialties, robotic surgery and trauma.
Also, unlike other military training programs, you can receive all of your training here in Dayton. There is no need for you to travel somewhere else to get any of your required experiences. Of course, if you want to take an elective rotation elsewhere to get additional experience in an area of particular interest, it can be arranged.
Our residents have scored as high as 98 percent on the annual in service exam and our "first time pass rate" for both American Board of Surgery examinations combined is >85 percent, well above the national average.
Our graduates are highly competitive. We have sent graduates on to fellowships in many specialties, including trauma/acute care surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, plastic surgery, colorectal surgery and vascular surgery. In fact, every one of our graduates who has applied for a fellowship within the last few years has been successful in gaining a training slot and match into one of their top choices.
What if you're interested in research? Although we do not have a mandatory research year, if you are interested in completing a dedicated year of research, the JSGMESB has granted us the option for a resident to take a research year after their PGY2 year. Even if you do not want to take a dedicated research year, since we are part of a major civilian academic university, there are always a number of ongoing projects that you can get involved with during your training. Almost all of our residents finish their training with multiple presentations at national conferences as well as at least one or two published manuscripts.
We're in Southwest Ohio, about halfway between Cincinnati and Columbus. We don't have beaches or mountains, but it is a great place to raise a family and there is plenty to do in the immediate area. Plus you will get to truly experience all 4 seasons! Within the local area, Dayton has 2 amusement parks (Kings Island and Cedar Point), professional sports teams (Cincinnati and Cleveland teams), outdoor recreational areas, and almost monthly cultural/community events. There is always something going on to help de-stress. And even though you'll be in training in a highly demanding profession, you're still likely to have some free time to enjoy it all. Our program's goal is to train you to be an independent surgeon, not kill you with "scut" work, and make sure you have time to enjoy your time in Dayton as well!
Additional information is available through this site and on the Wright-Patterson Medical Center web site.
If any (or all) of this sounds appealing to you, we would love to hear from you. With that, we would love to meet you even more. If you would like to come rotate with us, we will be more than happy to help arrange a rotation. If you are not able to arrange a formal rotation with us, we can work with your schedule to have you spend a day or two with our staff and residents to allow you a better feel for the program. How you feel about a program is just as important as your interview and therefore we want you to have a chance to interact with our staff and residents as much as possible during your time.
Remember, interested residency applicants must also be accepted by the WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Surgery as well as the military GME Selection Board. Therefore when you interview with our program, you will also be interviewing with their program. Our military residents work hand and hand with the civilian residents and we want to make sure that you are a fit with each side.
If you have any questions or would like to visit us, please do not hesitate to contact me (krystal.m.mcdonough.civ@mail.mil). I look forward to hearing from you and working with you in the future!
Sincerely,
Andrew D. Galusha, Maj., USAF, MC
Associate Program Director
WSU General Surgery Residency Program
88th Surgical Operations Squadron/SGCQ
4881 Sugar Maple Drive
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-5529
937-257-9514 or DSN 787-9514