Residency Rotation Descriptions

Residency in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology provides excellent training in all phases of obstetrics and gynecology through a system of progressive responsibility.

A minimum of four faculty members are always available as consultants and supervisors in-house at Parkland Memorial Hospital 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Resident rotations are within the following academic divisions:

We also have Departmental rotations in Prenatal Diagnosis and Clinical Genetics, the Women’s Obstetrics and Gynecologic Emergency Services and Urgent Care, and Internal Medicine.

Gynecology

Gynecology is divided into four separate services that are supervised by a faculty member, a senior resident, a third-year resident, and a first- or second-year resident.

Responsibility is graded, with the senior resident having decision-making responsibility regarding patient care and surgical management.

Attempts are made to allow third-year residents to remain on the same gynecology service for two consecutive months to provide better continuity of care. There is close coordination between all residents and the supervising attending faculty.

In total during their training, residents spend 16 months on the Parkland Gynecology Service. Each service has an ambulatory gynecology clinic two days a week and two full operating days a week. In addition, each service sees patients in Dysplasia Clinic one half day each week. Here, residents learn how to identify, evaluate, and treat cervical, vaginal, and vulvar dysplasia, and other premalignant diseases. Laser, cryotherapy, CUSA (Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator), and loop electrocautery therapies are available.

Residents also rotate through subspecialty clinics like the Vulvology Clinic.

Adding to the basics, our Department has made advances in its surgical education curriculum with the introduction of a video-laparoscopic training program at the state-of-the-art Simulation Center. The Simulation Center enables residents to improve video eye-hand coordination and acquire laparoscopic suturing, knot tying, and tissue handling skills in a virtual operating room setting.

Each service admits patients through the Women’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Emergency Services and Urgent Care area twice a week on a rotational basis.

During both the third year and fourth year there are 20 weeks of rotations for residents to get advanced gynecologic pelvic surgical experience at local private hospitals.

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Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery

Second- and third-year residents spend one block on the Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery Service for a total of two blocks’ experience during the Residency Program.

The Service consists of a faculty member, a urogynecology fellow, a third-year resident, and a second-year resident. Residents have primary responsibility for the inpatient urogynecology service at Parkland Memorial Hospital and William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital. This includes pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative care.

Residents become proficient in evaluating patients with urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and related disorders of the lower genital urinary tract. In addition, they will learn how to perform basic and complex urodynamic testing and become familiar with surgical and non-surgical methods for treating incontinence and prolapse.

The rotation involves one and a half days a week in the Parkland Urogynecology Clinic, where the resident performs patient evaluation, urodynamic testing, and has primary responsibility for patient care. Two days a week are spent in the operating room performing pelvic reconstructive surgery and anti-incontinence procedures.

Two half-days a week are spent in the anatomy lab to dissect unembalmed female cadavers and to become familiar with pelvic anatomy.

Both the second-year and the third-year resident spend one half-day a week in urogynecology didactic conferences. These conferences include journal club, textbook review, and case conferences. Residents will be responsible for some presentations during these conferences.

During their months on the Urogynecology Service residents benefit from an opportunity to work with and learn from physicians in the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Program.

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Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility

The Reproductive Endocrinology Service consists of a faculty member, a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) fellow, and a third- and fourth-year resident. The service provides care at the UT Southwestern Outpatient Building, Clements University Hospital, and Children’s Healthâ„  Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

Clinical procedures include ovulation induction, intra-uterine insemination, IVF-ET, ultrasonography, tubal reanastomosis, uterine and vaginal reconstructive surgery, and diagnostic and operative laparoscopy and hysteroscopy.

In addition to private practice, the Division staffs the Reproductive Endocrinology Service at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Clinic is held one morning a week.

Diagnoses frequently encountered include PCOS, amenorrhea, hyperprolactinemia, uterine anomalies, endometriosis, premature ovarian failure, and recurrent pregnancy loss.

Residents see private REI patients with faculty and assist in surgical procedures. The residents are encouraged to attend weekly conferences held by the Division, as well as daily inpatient rounds.

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Gynecologic Oncology

Second- and third-year residents rotate on the Gynecologic Oncology Service and provide care for the patients at Parkland Memorial Hospital and Clements University Hospital. The team is supervised by a gynecologic oncology faculty member and fellow.

The residents are responsible for the comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care of the gynecologic oncology patient, including benign aspects of cancer procedures, assisting with radical procedures, pre- and post-operative management, critical care, pain control, chemotherapy, radiation, terminal care, and management of complications.

Patients are cared for at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Clements University Hospital, Zale Lipshy Pavilion – William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, and the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center.

Teaching is a priority of the Division. Accordingly, attending faculty are present at all procedures, weekly Parkland Gynecologic Oncology Clinic, and daily rounds. Teaching conferences include a weekly tumor board, Parkland patient care, and monthly gynecologic oncology journal club and grand rounds. The Division is an active participant in clinical and basic research and welcomes resident collaboration.

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Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine

The Obstetrics Service at Parkland Memorial Hospital delivers more than 12,000 women annually. There are also approximately 2,000 deliveries at Clements University Hospital. This provides excellent experience in both the common and rare complications of pregnancy.

For over a decade, more than 97 percent of the women delivering at Parkland receive prenatal care in one of our 10 community clinics staffed by nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and faculty.

In addition, 10 half-day Maternal-Fetal Medicine clinics meet each week at Parkland. These clinics are designed for women with specific complications of pregnancy, including, for example, multiple gestation, anemia, prior preterm birth, diabetes, and infectious diseases.

The clinics are staffed by residents, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and Maternal-Fetal Medicine faculty and fellows.

The Parkland Obstetric Service consists of four teams, each composed of a faculty attending and first- through fourth-year residents. Each obstetrics team covers Labor and Delivery every fourth daytime period. Separate night float rotations are used for Labor and Delivery night call. This divides Labor and Delivery rotations into two shifts. The on-call schedules maximize continuity of both patient care and resident experience.

Third-year medical students are closely integrated into the Obstetrics Service rotation. In addition, many UT Southwestern fourth-year students and students from medical schools nationwide elect clinical rotations in obstetrics at Parkland.

Within Parkland is a 48-bed Labor and Delivery unit, divided into three levels of acuity (Red, Green, and Blue) that receives patients from a contiguous third-trimester obstetrics emergency room (L&D Triage Unit). All of these areas function interdependently. The L&D Triage Unit is staffed by nurse practitioners also under the supervision of house officers and attending physicians.

The Green and Blue areas are staffed by certified nurse midwives under the direct supervision of Ob/Gyn residents and faculty. Most of the certified nurse midwives are graduates of the Parkland School of Midwifery, and approximately 40 percent of births at Parkland are attended by midwives directly supervised by physicians.

The Red area receives complicated pregnancies from the Triage Unit. L&D Red also includes a separate operating suite for elective surgery (antepartum surgery, cesarean deliveries, puerperal sterilization, and missed abortions). This suite includes nine operating rooms. Contiguous with this is the obstetrics recovery room and an obstetric critical care unit.

Medical complications of pregnancy are directly managed by the Obstetric Service with consultations from other medical disciplines as indicated.

A High-Risk Pregnancy Unit also provides antepartum hospital care to more than 1,000 women each year. The 36-bed unit at Parkland continues to be one of the most popular rotations for residents.

Residents receive formal individual training in sonography in a dedicated Ob/Gyn Ultrasound Unit. Our physicians perform more than 10,000 obstetrical ultrasound procedures annually.

Support services include a large blood bank and surgical pathology department. Obstetric anesthesia is provided by full-time faculty and residents from the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at UT Southwestern. They provide services for labor epidurals, cesarean sections, vaginal deliveries, and puerperal sterilizations. A multidisciplinary obstetric anesthesia conference meets twice a month.

Obstetrics Service Grand Rounds are held each week on Wednesday morning. There are also weekly conferences on the High-Risk Unit.

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Prenatal Diagnosis and Clinical Genetics

Faculty specializing in Prenatal Diagnosis and Clinical Genetics provide comprehensive evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals with certain medical complications, genetic diseases, and congenital malformations

Services provided at Parkland Memorial Hospital include maternal serum screening for birth defects, cystic fibrosis screening, and invasive fetal testing, including chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, and fetal blood sampling. Three genetic counselors coordinate care and help teach the residents.

The ultrasound laboratory at Parkland has high-resolution machines, including one with 4-D capability.

A weekly Obstetrics-Genetics Clinic at Parkland is staffed by first- and fourth-year residents as part of the ultrasound rotation and provides experience in genetic evaluation, counseling, and prenatal diagnosis. The Service also works closely with the cytogenetics laboratory of the Department of Pathology.

Twice each month, multidisciplinary teaching conferences review complex fetal anomalies and genetic conditions, with fellows and faculty from the Divisions of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Neonatal-Perinatal participating in discussion of fetal therapy and pregnancy management.

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Women’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Emergency Services and Urgent Care

The Parkland Obstetrics and Gynecology Women’s Emergency Services and Urgent Care area is staffed by first- and second-year residents.

Nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants evaluate some routine patients. A senior resident and a faculty member provide supervision and teaching. This unique area provides care to more than 20,000 patients annually and is open 24 hours daily.

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Internal Medicine

Residents spend four weeks in the first year on Internal Medicine in the Parkland medical intensive care unit. In the senior year, residents attend weekly half-day sessions in the Osteoporosis Clinic on the Reproductive Endocrinology Rotation and Geriatrics Clinics on the Urogynecology Rotation.

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