General Surgery Residency

Case Volume & Transitions

Minimum Operative Case Volume

The purpose of Minimum Operative Case Volume is to ensure adequate operative experience and documentation of cases.

It is the policy of the Department of Surgery that all residents in the Core and General Surgery Residency Programs are required to enter cases in the ACGME Case Log system in a timely fashion. Core surgery residents will not be given a favorable review unless cases logs are up to date at the completion of the Core program. This means that the Program Director will inform the subsequent Program of the issue and will not sign off on any documentation required by the residency, future employment, or hospital privileging forms. Residents must complete a minimum number of cases to advance to the next year or have a favorable review. A deviation of 20% fewer cases than the minimum may lead to disciplinary action or dismissal.

Defined Category Minimum Operative Case Volume

  1. By the conclusion of your R2 year, the American Board of Surgery (ABS) requires that you have successfully completed at least 250 total procedures. 
    1. Can include procedures performed as operating surgeon or first assistant. 
    2. At least 200 must be in defined categories, endoscopies, or e-codes. 
    3. Up to 50 non-defined cases may be applied to this requirement.
  2. By the conclusion of your R5 year, the ABS requires that you have successfully completed at least 850 operative procedures as surgeon, with at least 200 in the chief resident year. 
    1. Teaching assistant cases count toward the 850 total; however they may not count toward the 200 chief year cases.
    2. At least 40 cases in surgical critical care, with at least one in each of the seven categories: ventilatory management; bleeding (non-trauma); hemodynamic instability; organ dysfunction/failure; dysrhythmias; invasive line management and monitoring; and parenteral/enteral nutrition.
    3. At least 25 cases as teaching assistant by the completion of residency.
    4. Endoscopy: upper endoscopy 35 cases; colonoscopy 50 cases
    5. Vascular (50 minimum): kidney transplants may be logged as vascular cases

Minimum number of cases per year:

  • PGY1: 60
  • PGY2: 125 (As required by the American Board of Surgery, Categorical General Surgery Residents must have 250 cases by the end of their PGY2 Year) 
  • PGY3: 250
  • PGY4: 200
  • PGY5: 150