General Surgery Residency

Gifts, Dress & Travel

Solicitation and Receipt of Gifts

Solicitation and Receipt of Gifts or Funds from Commercial Sources ("Drug and Medical Instrument Companies")

Residents are prohibited from the active solicitation of monetary donations or grants from commercial or industrial sources. Any unilateral offers of monetary donations, grants, or other gifts originating from a commercial source, will be referred to the Program Director or Chief of the Division of General Surgery. Each offer will be considered, and a decision made based on the UCLA SOM Guidelines on Industry Activities.

Dress Requirement

Our dress requirement ensures that resident physicians in the Core Surgical and General Surgery Training programs will be attired with consideration for professional appearance and safety at all times while discharging their duties.

The following policy is applicable to all rotation sites including the UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Medical Plaza, UCLA School of Medicine campus, VA Medical Center, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Harbor UCLA Hospital, California Hospital and the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center

  • Professional dress: Clothing appropriate for professional activities will be worn while engaged in the execution of both service and educational responsibilities. Clean white coats with proper photo identification displayed will be worn while on-duty. No collar-less shirts are permitted while on-duty. Male residents are expected to wear collared shirts with ties, and appropriate slacks. Female residents are expected to dress in a manner consistent with a working environment.
  • Scrub uniforms: Are allowed in the Operating Rooms and Surgery Center, or while between operative cases. At the UCLA Medical Center, only the Trauma Surgery team on-call, and resident physicians assigned to ICU rotations are allowed to remain in scrubs throughout the day. On-call residents for other services may change into scrubs after 6 PM. All hospitals prohibit the wearing of scrubs outside of the respective facilities. This ruling, in turn, prohibits the wearing of scrubs issued by another facility (e.g. no UCLA scrubs at Olive View, etc.).
  • Footwear: Appropriate professional footwear is expected. No open-toed shoes or sandals are allowed. Clogs are acceptable in the Operating Rooms or Surgery Center. Alternate footwear may be acceptable if deemed medically justified on a case-by-case basis.

Eye protection: Protective eyewear is both recommended and required in situations where the risk of exposure to patient body fluids is high, especially in the operating room and during bedside procedures. Prescription eyewear should be supplemented by additional splash protection.

Resident Travel for Professional Activities

The involvement of residents in travel related to professional (educational) activities is necessary and encouraged. Travel can result in absences from clinical duties and also results in numerous expenses, a number of conditions must be met before such travel will be allowed.

Criteria for Approved Travel:

  • The reason for traveling is to present the results of original investigative work conducted while at UCLA; or for participation in educational activities approved by the residency program director.
  • The traveler will be personally making the presentation of the investigative work.
  • Time away from clinical duties is minimized. Travel to the away location on the date prior to the day of presentation, and return immediately following completion of the presentation.

Authorization for Travel: Absences from clinical Duties must be approved in writing by the:

  • Chief of the Service involved
  • Chief Resident
  • Program Director
  • Sponsoring faculty member

This action is necessary so that adequate coverage can be arranged for the resident's absence from clinical duties. A travel request form must be completed and signed.  The faculty mentor is the financial sponsor of the resident's travel. Please return the form to the Surgery Education Office prior to making reservations.