Residency ProgramsGeneral Surgery

General Surgery

surgery being performed in operating room

General Surgery Residency

Christiana Care's General Surgery residency program has a rich tradition in training surgeons. This tradition is based on clinical excellence, compassionate care and education. Graduates of the General Surgery Residency Program are recognized for their outstanding technical skills, gained from exposure to a large number and variety of operative and perioperative encounters. They have enjoyed highly successful general surgical practices as well as exceptional academic and fellowship opportunities.

Residents have diverse learning opportunities and receive extensive academic and clinical training in all aspects of the discipline. Christiana Care Health System ranks 19th in the nation (10th among hospitals on the East Coast) for total number of surgeries performed. More than 41,000 surgical procedures are performed within the Department of Surgery annually, covering a large spectrum of surgical specialties, including general, trauma, thoracic, colorectal, otolaryngologic, pediatric, urologic and vascular surgery, as well as surgical endoscopy. In addition to the broad-based experience residents receive on these services, simulation training sessions are conducted periodically to allow residents to acquire skills in endoscopy and basic and advanced laparoscopic techniques. More than 2,500 laparoscopic procedures are performed annually.

The Christiana Hospital campus has 26 operating rooms (including a four-room advanced videoscopy suite) and a surgicenter with 10 operating rooms (seven major, three minor). Wilmington Hospital has 10 operating rooms and is undergoing a more than $200 million renovation including a new OR Suite. The Roxana Cannon Arsht Surgicenter on the Wilmington campus adds six operating rooms (five main, one minor).

Surgical residents have the opportunity to learn the principles of intensive-care management in the 22-bed surgical critical care complex, which includes surgical, trauma, and pediatric ICUs staffed by full-time surgical intensivists. Working in a busy Level I trauma center, residents confidently learn to diagnose and treat severely injured and critically ill patients.

In addition to standard rotations on all major services, categorical surgical residents complete one block in the regional burn unit at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, in Upland, Pa., and two blocks on the pediatric general surgical and transplant service at the Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children. A one-block mini-apprenticeship comprehensive breast surgery is also completed. With no competing residencies in other surgical disciplines, the general surgery residents have the opportunity to participate in subspecialty cases.