Description: The Thoracic Surgery service is composed of a multidisciplinary team of three attending surgeons, one nurse practitioner, two Physician Assistants, a 1st and 4th year surgical housestaff and a dedicated group of OR and Ward nursing staff. We perform over 300 major and 150 minor Thoracic procedures over the course of a year, including advance robotic procedures, VATS and endoscopy. This rotation offers extensive exposure to cardiopulmonary physiology, inpatient management of complex multisystem diseases, and provides an introduction to operating room management of lung and esophageal surgery patients. Weekly conferences, including CTOP Tumor Board, provide a comprehensive overview of Thoracic Diseases. The service also has a very active outpatient population for new and established patients with pulmonary, mediastinal and esophageal diseases, both benign and malignant, including the pre-operative evaluation for many of these problems. Students will be expected to participate actively in the inpatient care of the patients as well as see patients in the outpatient setting. The inpatient experience will include following patients from the OR, PACU, to the ward and ultimately home. The outpatient experience is mainly geared toward thoracic oncology, though there is a significant amount of benign disease in our clinics.
Subspecialty Activities: Major thoracic procedures including open and minimally invasive (including Robotic) lung resections, esophagectomies, chest wall resections and resection of mediastinal tumors. We also perform minor OR and bedside procedures, including bronchoscopy and chest tube placement.
Other Learning Opportunities: Interaction with thoracic anesthesia, thoracic medical and radiation oncology, pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine.
Didactics: Tuesday 8:00 AM: CTOP Tumor Board – Patient presentation and management of all thoracic surgical patients with a multidisciplinary team which includes medical and radiation oncology, pathology, radiology, surgery and gastroenterology.
Wednesday 4:00 PM: Teaching Rounds—Socratic method teaching rounds discussing each patient in detail and exploring basic physiology, cancer biology and post-operative management
Friday 7:00 AM: Surgery M&M – General surgery morbidity and mortality conference
Friday 7:45 AM: Surgery Grand Rounds – Various topics from guest speakers
House staff and medical students are expected to make a presentation during their time on the service at either CTOP Tumor Board or Wednesday teaching rounds on a topic of their choice.
Call:
Call Schedule:
Two weekdays, two weekend nights, no call on Tuesday to study for Wednesday didactics
Call Facility:
Yes, GSM On-Call Rooms at DHMC; overseen by the Office of Clinical Education. Instructions for room sign-up posted in On-Call area.
Call Details:
6:00pm-8:00am weekdays; 4:00pm-8:00am weekends
Demographics
Population: 1.8 million patients
No. of Patient: 20-40 patients per week in clinic
Patient Encounters: 5 patients per clinic day, rounding on all inpatients
Patient Census: 5 - 15 inpatients per day
Medical Procedures Info: Circumcision
Practice Staff: David J. Finley, MD
Timothy M. Millington, MD
Joseph D. Phillips, MD
Site Details
Communication Access:
Computer Access:
DHMC: Student Lounge, Rubin Building
Phone Access:
Mail Access:
A student may contact Kellogg mailroom to forward US mail, but not Hinman mail.
Meals:
Meals Provided:
Yes
Meal Venue:
Cafeteria
Meals Details:
Dress Code: During the week, attire should be a clean white coat, tie and professional clothing, however, more casual attire is suitable for the weekends. At all times, a clean white coat and identification is absolutely required when interacting with patients or their families.
Equipment/Texts: "Essentials of General Surgery" by Lawrence will be provided as required reading for didactic studies. It is recommended to read 20 pages per night during the Surgery Clerkship rotations.
A handout primer on acquired cardiac disease and basic pulmonary diseases is also provided.