Program goals and objectives
Our General Surgery Residency Program is designed to train thoughtful, technically excellent, and independently functioning surgeons who are prepared to lead in both academic and community settings.
Each year, we match seven categorical resident physicians and a variable number of preliminary resident physicians. Categorical training spans seven years and is structured around five years of clinical training and two years of dedicated research. While this serves as the standard framework of our program, we recognize that career goals vary, and flexibility may exist to tailor the duration and focus of research training for resident physicians with specific academic or professional aspirations. Many resident physicians pursue advanced degrees during this time, including opportunities to obtain an MPH, MBA, or PhD.
Our curriculum is built on a foundation of graded autonomy and deliberate skill progression. Resident physicians assume increasing responsibility across all domains of surgical care, including preoperative evaluation, operative planning, intraoperative performance, and postoperative management. From early in training, resident physicians are expected to develop ownership of their patients and participate meaningfully in clinical decision-making, with responsibility expanding in a structured and supportive manner over time.
We are intentional in designing a training environment that prioritizes resident physician education and operative experience. Our program emphasizes an apprenticeship-based model in which resident physicians work closely with faculty while maintaining clear roles and responsibility for patient care. Careful attention is given to service structure and learner composition to ensure that resident physicians have meaningful operative opportunities, appropriate autonomy, and the ability to function as true surgical trainees rather than observers.
By the completion of training, our resident physicians are not only technically proficient, but also confident, accountable, and capable of independent surgical practice. Graduates leave our program prepared to lead teams, make complex clinical decisions, and provide high-quality, patient-centered care, whether they pursue fellowship training or enter independent practice.
Post-graduate years
Intern year is focused on building a strong foundation in surgical patient care while providing broad exposure across the full spectrum of our clinical rotations to help resident physicians explore and refine their developing interests. Resident physicians are actively engaged in both inpatient and perioperative management, developing skills in clinical assessment, decision-making, care coordination, and prioritization. Early in the year, interns participate in a dedicated, month-long simulation-based rotation designed to accelerate technical skill acquisition, during which they complete core certifications including FLS and FES and receive structured training in robotic surgery. This intentional preparation ensures that interns enter the operating room with a strong technical foundation, allowing them to contribute meaningfully, perform effectively, and earn increasing operative autonomy from the outset, while continuing to build efficiency, communication skills, and sound clinical judgment throughout the year.
During the second year, resident physicians expand their clinical and operative responsibilities while gaining broad exposure to core surgical specialties. In this role, they serve as the primary consult resident for acute care surgery, leading the evaluation and initial management of surgical patients and developing increasing independence in clinical decision-making. This experience builds confidence in triage, diagnostic reasoning, and timely intervention for complex and acutely ill patients.
PGY2 resident physicians also spend a significant portion of the year at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center our East Hospital, a high-volume robotic surgery site, where they gain extensive operative exposure and develop technical proficiency in minimally invasive and robotic procedures. Across all rotations, procedural experience increases substantially, with continued growth in operative autonomy, efficiency, and ownership of patient care.
The senior years are focused on the transition to independent surgical practice through high operative volume, increasing autonomy, and progressive leadership responsibility. Resident physicians spend the majority of this time on core and subspecialty services, refining both their clinical judgment and technical skills across a wide range of complex surgical conditions. They serve as leaders of their teams, directing patient care, supervising junior residents, and coordinating all aspects of perioperative management. Operative experience expands substantially during these years, with resident physicians performing a high volume of major cases and taking an active role in operative planning and execution.
Protected elective time is also built into the senior years, allowing resident physicians to more fully explore areas of individual interest, tailor their clinical experiences, and strengthen preparation for fellowship applications. Global surgery rotations are also available during the PGY-4 and PGY-5 years, providing opportunities for resident physicians to broaden their perspective and gain experience in diverse clinical environments. Through this combination of intensive operative exposure, graduated leadership, and individualized training opportunities, resident physicians develop the confidence, efficiency, and decision-making ability required for independent practice by the completion of training.
Rotations
Rotations at the Wexner Medical Center make the most of the wealth of knowledge and expertise within the Ohio State and Columbus medical communities.
Our rotation locations expose residents to the highest quality medical care the region has to offer, providing the opportunity to learn first-hand surgical best-practices and patient care.
Rotations by year
- Acute Care Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Burn – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Colorectal Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Minimally Invasive Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Night Float – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Pediatric Surgery – Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Surgical Intensive Care – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Surgical Oncology/Hepatobiliary - James Cancer Hospital
- Thoracic Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Transplant Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Vascular Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Ross Heart Hospital
- Acute Care Surgery - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Breast- James Cancer Hospital
- Burn - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Endoscopy - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- General Surgery – Ohio State East Hospital
- Night Float - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Surgical Intensive Care - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Acute Care Surgery - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Colorectal Surgery - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Minimally Invasive Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Night Float – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- General Surgery – Ohio State East Hospital
- Pediatric Surgery – Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Thoracic Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Ross Heart Hospital
- Acute Care Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Breast – James Cancer Hospital
- Endocrine – James Cancer Hospital
- Elective -Training site varies
- Melanoma/Sarcoma – James Cancer Hospital
- Night Float - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Transplant Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Vascular Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Ross Heart Hospital
- Acute Care Surgery - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Colorectal Surgery - Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- Minimally Invasive Surgery – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
- General Surgery – Ohio State East Hospital
- Hepatobiliary Surgery – James Cancer Hospital
- Outpatient Surgery – Outpatient Care New Albany
- Night Float – Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
Call and night float responsibilities
Our call structure is designed to provide robust clinical experience while maintaining a sustainable and educationally focused training environment. Resident physicians participate in a night float system throughout all years of training, with most residents completing one to two months of night float annually. These rotations provide focused experience in the evaluation and management of acutely ill surgical patients, while also allowing for continuity of daytime educational activities during non–-night float blocks.
Interns do not take 24-hour in-house call. During the PGY-2 through PGY-5 years, resident physicians participate in 24-hour in-house call, 24-hour call, averaging approximately two calls per month. This structure balances exposure to high-acuity decision-making and operative opportunities with attention to resident well-being and overall workload.
Overall, the call system is designed to ensure that resident physicians gain meaningful experience in acute surgical care and independent decision-making, while maintaining appropriate supervision, support, and compliance with duty hour standards.
Training sites
Resident physicians train across multiple high-volume, specialized clinical sites throughout Columbus, each offering a distinct and complementary educational experience. This diverse training environment ensures broad exposure to complex pathology, varied practice settings, and advanced surgical techniques.
Opened in 2026, the state-of-the-art University Hospital Tower is located in Columbus, Ohio. The James, Ross and Wexner Medical Center are all part of one complex on OSU’s main campus. physicians’ learning environment. As a large academic referral center, this campus provides exposure to complex, high-acuity patients, multidisciplinary care, and innovative surgical approaches across all areas of general surgery and its subspecialties.
Together, these sites provide a balanced training experience that combines the complexity and innovation of a major academic medical center with the autonomy, efficiency, and breadth of a high-functioning community practice.
Training site locations
The James Cancer Hospital offers a highly specialized oncology experience, with exposure to complex surgical oncology cases, multidisciplinary tumor care, and advanced oncologic therapies. Resident physicians gain experience managing challenging cancer diagnoses while working closely with subspecialty teams in a collaborative, high-volume setting.
Ross Heart Hospital provides focused experience in cardiac and vascular surgery, allowing resident physicians to develop expertise in the perioperative management of patients with complex cardiovascular disease, and to gain exposure to advanced surgical and endovascular procedures.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital offers a dedicated pediatric surgery experience within one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals. Resident physicians gain exposure to a wide range of pediatric surgical conditions while learning the nuances of caring for children and working within a highly specialized, team-based environment.
Outpatient Care New Albany is a state-of-the-art ambulatoryoutpatient surgical center where resident physicians gain experience in efficient, high-volume outpatient surgery. This site emphasizes minimally invasive and robotic techniques, workflow optimization, and perioperative efficiency in a modern surgical setting.
Ohio State East Hospital provides a high-volume, community-based surgical experience with a strong emphasis on operative autonomy and technical skill development. Resident physicians are exposed to bread-and-butter general surgery as well as advanced, minimally invasive and robotic procedures in a setting that promotes efficiency, independence, and continuity of care.
Operative experience
Residents generally graduate the program with 1-1.2k major case counts.
Our program has excellent volumes in all specialties and exceptional experience in hepatobiliary surgical oncology, colorectal, MIS and endoscopy. All resident physicians are trained and certified in robotic surgery with more than 40-50 cases by the end of the chief year.
Simulation and skills training
Ohio State utilizes a variety of methods to prepare residents for surgical practice. Simulation incorporated into our curriculum establishes a strong foundation of knowledge to be applied in procedures prior to entering the operating room.
Simulation and skills training are core components of our curriculum and are intentionally designed to accelerate technical development, build confidence, and prepare resident physicians for meaningful operative participation from the earliest stages of training. Rather than serving as an adjunct, simulation functions as a deliberate bridge between knowledge acquisition and operative performance, ensuring that resident physicians enter the operating room ready to perform and progress toward autonomy.
Early in the intern year, resident physicians participate in a dedicated, month-long simulation rotation focused on foundational technical skill development. During this time, interns complete structured training in essential surgical techniques, including suturing, dissection, energy use, endoscopy, and robotic fundamentals, as well as core certifications such as FLS and FES. This early, immersive experience ensures that resident physicians develop a strong technical baseline, allowing them to contribute effectively in the operating room from the outset of training.
Resident physicians continue to build on this foundation through a longitudinal, level-specific curriculum during protected educational time. Dedicated simulation sessions occur weekly on Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., ensuring consistent, protected time for skill development. Training progresses from fundamental techniques to advanced procedural skills across open, laparoscopic, endoscopic, and robotic surgery. In addition to technical training, select sessions are focused on professional development, teamwork, and communication, reinforcing the non-technical skills essential to effective surgical practice and leadership.
For senior residents, this curriculum includes advanced multidisciplinary simulation experiences such as complex airway management (DART) and high-acuity trauma and critical care–focused training (ATLAS), reinforcing decision-making and team leadership in high-stakes clinical scenarios.
A major strength of our program is the depth and realism of our hands-on training models. Resident physicians train using an extensive array of cadaveric and porcine models, offering a level of procedural breadth and tissue fidelity that is uncommon among training programs. In addition, resident physicians have access to a wide range of high-fidelity simulation platforms, including central line and chest tube trainers, as well as dedicated FLS and FES training systems, allowing for repeated deliberate practice across core procedural skills.
All simulation and skills training is supported through our Center for Education and Simulation, a state-of-the-art facility that provides comprehensive resources for both technical and team-based training. Robotic training is similarly integrated and highly accessible, with dedicated simulation consoles as well as a robotic console located directly within the operating room environment, allowing resident physicians to practice and refine their skills in real time outside of scheduled cases.
By combining early immersive training, longitudinal skill development, high-fidelity simulation, and unmatched access to advanced training models, our program ensures that resident physicians develop the technical proficiency, confidence, and operative readiness required to excel in modern surgical practice.
Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) and Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES)
FLS is designed to teach the physiology, fundamental knowledge, and technical skills required in basic laparoscopic surgery, while FES is designed to help the learning physician acquire the fundamentals of gastrointestinal endoscopy. The Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a certified SAGES FLS and FES Test Center. Our resident physicians are tracked to obtain their FES and FLS certificate prior to the end of their PGY2 years.
Fundamentals of Robotic Surgery (FRS) and Robotic Surgery Curriculum
Our FRS program is designed to guide our trainees to acquire the fundamental knowledge required to operate with the robotic surgical platform. Trainees are required to complete simulations, online modules, and five bedside assist cases prior to sitting at and operating the robotic console. Resident physicians have access to two dedicated simulation Xi robot consoles. Ohio State’s is the first program in the nation to offer weekly, one-on-one, proctored robotic skills training. All resident physicians are tracked to graduate with a Robotic Surgery Equivalency Certification.
Mock oral examination preparation
Preparation for the American Board of Surgery Certifying Examination is a structured and longitudinal component of our curriculum. Residents participate in regular mock oral sessions throughout training during protected didactic time, allowing for early and repeated exposure to the format, expectations, and style of the examination. These sessions are designed to build clinical reasoning, improve verbal articulation of surgical decision-making, and increase confidence in high-pressure scenarios.
In the senior years, this preparation becomes more formalized. PGY-4 and PGY-5 resident physicians each complete two structured mock oral examination sessions annually, designed to closely replicate the format and rigor of the certifying exam. These sessions are faculty-led and provide detailed, individualized feedback on both clinical content and performance.
Resident physicians who require additional support are provided with targeted, structured remediation to address specific areas for growth. Our program is deeply committed to ensuring that every resident physician is fully prepared for the certifying examination, with the goal that all graduates approach their boards with confidence and a high likelihood of success.
Operative coaching program for residents
Ohio State resident physicians can expect feedback from an expert surgeon coach as part of our innovative OR Coaching Program. As a key element of our residency training program, the coaching is intended to give timely, resident-centered comments and constructive ideas for improvement, ultimately accelerating resident preparedness for being an independent surgeon. This active monitoring of each resident physician’s operative skills and procedure-specific feedback for our resident physicians includes observation and evaluation of PGY2 to PGY4 residents. Following each observed operation, the attending physician, the resident physician and a designated surgeon coach then fill out the same Surgical Entrustable Professional Activities (SEPAs) evaluation. An aggregated report will be sent to the resident physician, with highlights on the coach’s ratings and feedback. Resident physicians have noted how the program has helped them understand the positive impact of even small procedural changes and helped them correct potentially negative habits before they become ingrained.
For more information, please see our following publications:
- Go M, Traugott A, Ejaz A, Collins C, Harzman A, Ellison EC, Chen XP. Measuring Chief Resident Skill and Entrustment Progression in An Operative Coaching Program: Four Years’ Experience. Journal of Surgical Education 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2023.12.014.
- Chen XP, Harzman A, Cochran A, Ellison EC. Evaluation of an instrument to assess resident surgical entrustable professional activities (SEPAs). Am J Surg. 2020 Jul;220(1):4-7. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2019.08.026. Epub 2019 Sep 10. PMID: 31526512.
- Chen XP, Cochran A, Harzman AE, Ellison EC. A Novel Operative Coaching Program for General Surgery Chief Residents Improves Operative Efficiency. J Surg Educ. 2021 Jul-Aug;78(4):1097-1102. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2020.12.006. Epub 2020 Dec 23. PMID: 33358340; PMCID: PMC8217072.
- Chen XP, Go M, Harzman A, Traugott A, Ejaz A, Collins C, Pawlik TM, Ellison EC. Operative Coaching for General Surgery Residents: Review of Implementation Requirements. J Am Coll Surg. 2022 Aug 1;235(2):361-369. doi: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000000217. Epub 2022 Apr 5. PMID: 35839415.
Conferences and educational sessions
Resident physicians participate in a comprehensive and structured educational curriculum that includes weekly departmental morbidity and mortality conference, grand rounds featuring nationally recognized speakers, and resident- and faculty-led didactic and simulation sessions. These conferences are designed to reinforce clinical knowledge, promote critical thinking, and foster a culture of continuous learning, reflection, and improvement.
In addition to clinical education, resident physicians develop essential teaching skills through active participation in these sessions, preparing them to effectively educate students, peers, and future trainees throughout their careers.
Didactics
Our didactic curriculum is a core component of resident physician education, and is delivered during protected time each Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to AM to 10:30 a.m. AM. This time is free from clinical responsibilities, ensuring that resident physicians are able to fully engage in structured learning alongside faculty and peers.
The curriculum is intentionally designed to evolve over the course of the academic year. The first half of the year is focused on comprehensive ABSITE preparation, with a structured review of core surgical topics aimed at reinforcing foundational knowledge and optimizing exam performance. The second half of the year shifts toward advanced and applied learning, including in-depth subspecialty lectures led by faculty, practice mock oral examinations, and sessions focused on professional development topics such as clinical decision-making, leadership, and transition to independent practice. Faculty are present not only to deliver content, but to guide discussion, challenge clinical reasoning, and provide real-time feedback.
Evaluation and feedback
Evaluation and feedback are central to resident physician development and continuous program improvement. Each rotation is supported by a faculty education liaison who facilitates mid-rotation feedback, ensuring that resident physicians receive timely, actionable input to guide their growth. At the end of each rotation, faculty complete formal evaluations, and residents’ progress is reviewed comprehensively on a semi-annual basis through the Clinical Competency Committee.
Resident physicians are evaluated using a 360-degree framework that includes feedback from faculty, peers, nursing staff, and medical students. Assessments are aligned with ACGME Milestones across all core competency domains, including professionalism, medical knowledge, patient care, technical skills, interpersonal and communication skills, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice.
Performance is further supported through structured assessments and standardized tools. All resident physicians complete the American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) annually, with individualized mentorship and support provided for those who require additional guidance. Residents also participate in a longitudinal mock oral examination curriculum to prepare for the American Board of Surgery Certifying Examination. In addition, the program utilizes the SIMPL app to provide real-time operative feedback and has adopted the American Board of Surgery Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) framework, allowing for continuous, app-based assessment of clinical performance and progression toward independent practice.
The program takes resident physician evaluation and feedback very seriously. All evaluations and residents’ input are reviewed closely, and this feedback is actively used to drive meaningful programmatic improvements. This commitment is supported by a structured feedback system. The system includes a monthly Resident Council with program leadership and representatives from each class, as well as regular roundtable discussions with the Program Director involving both the entire residency and individual class cohorts. These forums provide open lines of communication to identify concerns early, address challenges, and continuously improve the training experience.