Program Overview
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This residency provides formal instruction, appropriate supervision, increasing responsibility, and critical evaluation in leading you to the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed by a successful obstetrician/gynecologist. The majority of our graduates have entered private practice. However, as interest in post-residency fellowship training increases, our residents have proven themselves to be competitive in obtaining and completing these fellowships.
Our program is devoted to fulfilling all needs of the individual, not just educational skills. Faculty advisors are assigned to each resident to address educational, professional and personal goals.
Palmetto Health serves as a tertiary-level hospital providing referred health-care delivery for a population in excess of 1.2 million from 16 counties and 20 hospitals. Established in 1948, the hospital's residency program affiliated with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 1977 and is now known as the Palmetto Health/University of South Carolina School of Medicine Residency Program.
Additional local hospitals now affiliated as part of the educational system include William Jennings Bryan Dorn Veterans' Administration Hospital.
Our faculty is committed to providing an environment in which housestaff achieve their maximum potential, both technically and cognitively, in all areas of our medical discipline. The departmental structure is designed to provide in depth exposure and teaching in the entire spectrum of our specialty.
Upon completion of this program, each housestaff member will be competitive in the areas of clinical practice and in the academic arena.
In your first postgraduate year (OBG1), residents begin training in both routine and high-risk obstetrics, as well as general gynecology and minor operative surgical procedures. In addition, training begins in ultrasonography. General medical knowledge is strengthened with rotations in ambulatory medicine.
The second year of training (OBG2) expands and deepens training in the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology. This includes rotations in the subspecialties of gyn oncology and reproductive endocrinology. The primary care experience continues in both the emergency department and in the family practice clinic. Breadth of training is expanded with rotations in high risk OB and ultrasound.
During the third year of training (OBG3), gynecology skills are expanded with one-on-one experiences at Dorn Veteran's Administration Hospital, the Women's Correctional Center, and with private practice attendings in the community. The focus of this year's training is depth of high-risk obstetrics and major operative gynecology.
The fourth year of training (OBG4) presents the resident with the role of teacher. The system of graduated responsibility establishes the OBG4 as service chief in general obstetrics, high-risk obstetrics and gynecology. Additional training in urogynecology surgery, benign gyn surgery and reproductive endocrinology occur.
Scheduled teaching sessions include OB rounds, GYN rounds, oncology rounds, journal club, pre-op conference, pathology/colposcopy conference, OBGYN morbidity and mortality conference, OB/NICU conference, core curriculum lectures, and weekly grand rounds. Conferences are videotaped for residents who are off-service.
Continuity of patient care is considered crucial. The resident is provided at least two half-day Continuity Clinic throughout training. Patient assignments are graduated to reflect the increasing experience of each resident. This experience begins with normal obstetrics and gynecology and moves toward more complicated problems as the year of training increases.