Our curriculum provides residents with comprehensive clinical and didactic learning experiences.
All patients - whether service or private, including patients seen in the outpatient department, admissions, surgeries, and deliveries - are available for resident education. In addition, the department strives to create an environment of research and scholarly activity that optimizes the academic efforts of all members of the department and encourages a life-long commitment to the pursuit of knowledge.
In addition to the opportunities available within the department itself, our residents obtain additional educational experiences from rotations outside the department. These include rotations in the outpatient internal medicine clinics, Family Medicine, the Emergency Department, and Anesthesia.
In addition, residents are given one month of elective time where they may schedule an in-house or off-site rotation to complement their educational experience.
Beginning in the first year of training, residents attend a half-day continuity clinic session each week in the outpatient clinics. These sessions consist of two to three residents and a supervising faculty attending. Attendings do not have other responsibilities or see other patients while supervising residents. Each resident follows his or her complement of patients under the supervision of a faculty attending. As residents advance in their training, the number of patients they oversee will increase.
In addition to the continuity clinic sessions, residents will rotate through departmental specialty clinics, including high-risk obstetrics, urogynecology, oncology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility.
The outpatient clinics are located in a large, renovated space equipped with a procedure room, 6 examination rooms, 2 consultation rooms, and a conference space with library and computers. Procedures performed include colposcopy, LEEP, cryotherapy, endometrial sampling, complex cystometrics, cystoscopy, and office hysteroscopy. A mobile ultrasound with abdominal and endovaginal probes is available for use in each evaluation room.
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From routine gynecologic examinations and high-risk obstetrical services to urogynecologic treatment and advanced surgical procedures, our Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology offers advanced and compassionate care to women, children and infants. The department's obstetricians and gynecologists provide comprehensive care throughout all stages of a woman's life. Residents actively participate in the evaluation and management of these patients under supervision of the subspecialist. The department is organized into the following divisions, each offering the resident unique educational experiences in obstetrics and gynecology:
Faculty
Aurora M. Miranda, MD
Roseann Covatto, MD
West Penn Hospital's Ambulatory Obstetrics and Gynecology Program is staffed by a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who is also a member of the hospital's full-time faculty, and by board-certified private practice obstetrician/gynecologists. The mission of the Ambulatory Obstetrics and Gynecology Program is to provide a service-oriented continuing care clinic for the patients the hospital serves, as well as to offer clinical obstetric management and office and practice management training to residents. Consultations with the obstetrics and gynecology faculty and with specialists in internal medicine, surgery, radiology and emergency medicine are available at all times. The Ambulatory and Obstetrics Gynecology Program offers the following services:
Faculty
Fredric V. Price, MD, FACOG, FACS, Director
Thomas C. Krivak, MD, FACOG, FACS
Eileen M. Segreti, MD, FACOG, FACS
A. Dwayne Jenkins, MD, FACOG
Gynecologic oncology is the subspecialty of obstetrics and gynecology that deals with all aspects of cancer of the reproductive organs in women. Our Division of Gynecologic Oncology provides comprehensive care to women from a wide geographic area who have malignancies of the vulva, vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tube, ovary, and trophoblast (placenta). Our faculty is composed of nationally and internationally known subspecialists who have won numerous awards for clinical teaching. The division is committed to providing trainees with experience in our clinics and operating rooms and at our multidisciplinary treatment planning conferences.
Our division comprises an important component of the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, which has established a 5-year formal collaboration with the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins for research, medical education, and clinical services. We have an active clinical research program evaluating cancer screening, prevention, treatment. supportive care, and survivorship. We are affiliated with NRG, the National Cancer Institute’s clinical trial arm for multi-center research in gynecologic malignancy.
The Division of Gynecologic Oncology offers the following services:
The Division of Gynecology offers a full-range of medical and surgical services to pediatric, adolescent and adult patients.
Physicians of the division offer comprehensive evaluation and are specially trained to perform the most advanced medical and minimally invasive procedures for management of the full range of benign gynecological conditions, including:
The division offers the following minimally invasive surgical procedures:
Faculty
Ronald Thomas, MD, FACOG, Chief, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Mark Caine, MD, FACOG, Medical Director, Labor and Delivery
Jennifer Celebrezze, MD
Ashi Daftary, MD
Steven Golde, MD
West Penn Hospital is a major perinatal tertiary referral center for the tri-state region. Of the more than 3,500 births annually at the hospital, about 40% involve high-risk patients, and about 600 maternal and neonatal transports are received each year.
West Penn Hospital offers patients 15 state-of-the-art Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP) suites. These spacious rooms combine the comforts of home with the latest in technology to accommodate all of the needs of a new mother and her family. The suites are fully equipped to provide care - including critical care - for mother and infant. Should an emergency arise, the LDRPs are adjacent to three operating rooms and West Penn Hospital's 45-bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
The Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine provides residents with a progressive learning experience. Rounds are held on a daily basis with faculty and attending physicians. Teaching is conducted both in didactic formats and preceptor-type fashion. All members of the obstetrics team are involved in teaching their peers. In addition, the physicians and residents of the division are actively involved in research projects.
The Division of Maternal/Fetal Medicine offers the following specialty services:
Faculty
Bryan Hecht, MD, Director
Lori Homa, MD
West Penn Hospital is home to patient offices and Allegheny General Hospital houses the laboratories for our Jones Institute affiliate of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine of Eastern Virginia Medical School.
The Jones Institute, which is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of infertility, using the most advanced techniques, is a leader in providing comprehensive diagnosis and treatment to couples with documented infertility (approximately 14% of American couples) through a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, with laboratory and genetic support.
Our Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility offers the following diagnostic infertility services:
We also offer the following state-of-the-art infertility treatments:
Faculty
Christann L. Jackson, MD, FACOG, Chief, Division of Reproductive Genetics
The Division of Reproductive Genetics offers genetic counseling and comprehensive prenatal diagnostic testing. The division is staffed by a physician who is board-certified in obstetrics/gynecology and clinical genetics, as well as board-certified genetics counselors.
The division also provides genetic, environmental, and occupational history assessments. Genetic assessments are combined with targeted testing approaches to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of prenatal diagnostic testing.
The Division of Reproductive Genetics offers the following special services:
Faculty
Allan Klapper, MD, FACOG, Network Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Director of Urogynecology
The Division of Urogynecology, Female Pelvic Medicine, and Reconstructive Surgery is dedicated to providing patients suffering from urogynecologic or pelvic floor conditions with the most individualized, comprehensive care available. Various urogynecologic and pelvic floor conditions are treated through the division, including uterine and vaginal prolapse, cystocele, rectocele, enterocele, vaginal wall prolapse, female urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, pelvic and bladder pain, and urge and stress urinary incontinence. Our goal is to provide support, hope, and a better quality of life through treatments focused on the patient's individual needs and lifestyle.
Techniques offered by the Division of Urogynecology, Female Pelvic Medicine, and Reconstructive Surgery include the following:
Following are rotations for PGY1, PGY2, PGY3, and PGY4 and a sample annual Rotation Schedule.
PGY1 (First-Year Residents)
First-year (PGY1) resident rotations include the following:
The fundamentals of diagnosis, work-up, management, anatomy, and physiology as well as appropriate consultation are emphasized. The first-year resident actively participates in each service performing vaginal deliveries, cesarean sections, ultrasounds, and minor gynecology procedures such as D&C, hysteroscopy, biopsy, polypectomy, laparoscopy, cerclage and marsupialization.
First-year residents participate in and perform these procedures under resident and attending physician supervision from the first day of training. In addition, residents will start to see their own panel of patients in the ambulatory care center under the direction and supervision of the attendings. During off-service rotations (Internal Medicine, Emergency Department, etc.), residents function as active members of the respective team, evaluating and managing outpatient medical conditions.
PGY2 (Second-Year Residents)
Second-year residents expand upon their knowledge and proficiency in the diagnosis and management of obstetrical and gynecological problems. At this level, there is greater participation in both the basic and more advanced gynecologic procedures including hysteroscopic myomectomy, endometrial ablation, operative laparoscopy, and minor laparotomies. In addition, there is greater participation in basic and advanced obstetrical procedures including vacuum deliveries and difficult cesarean sections.
Second-year resident rotations include the following:
PGY3 (Third-Year Residents)
Third-year residents have more responsibility for the management of obstetrical and gynecological patients and expand on their experiences from previous years with greater participation in more difficult cases and greater responsibility in managing and supervising the junior residents of the team.
Third-year resident rotations include the following:
Each third-year resident is required to complete a research project to be presented on Resident Research Day. Faculty members assist in the selection, design, and interpretation of research project topics. After collection of the data, results are interpreted and compared with the study hypothesis. Past projects have been presented at national meetings and published in peer reviewed journals.
PGY4 (Fourth-Year Residents)
During the fourth year, residents will continue to enhance their diagnostic and management skills while assuming responsibility as chief resident. During this year, residents will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to function as attending obstetricians/gynecologists without direct supervision and to pass the oral and written OB/GYN Board examinations. As chief residents, fourth-year residents assume greater responsibility in supervising and teaching the junior members of the team and students. It is not uncommon for the chief resident to function as first assistant while taking the junior members through surgical procedures.
Fourth-year resident rotations include the following:
Residents rotate through most services in 2-month blocks, caring for and assuming increasing responsibility for managing the care of both teaching service and private patients as they progress through their training.
Senior residents act as the chief of each service.
A unique aspect of our training schedule is that the first 5 weeks are broken down into separate 1-week rotations to assist the residents in getting acclimated to their new roles.
Rotations include benign gynecology, obstetrics, gynecologic oncology, maternal/fetal medicine, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and urogynecology and pelvic floor reconstruction.
In addition, residents receive primary care training via rotations in Family Practice, Emergency Medicine, outpatient Internal Medicine, Reproductive Genetics, and anesthesia.
Furthermore, an elective rotation is built into the schedule and tailored to the interests and future plans of the individual resident.
In addition to their training, residents play an important role in the education and supervision of family practice and internal medicine residents, as well as third and fourth year medical students rotating through the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
At the conclusion of training, obstetric and gynecology residents are well prepared to independently manage ambulatory patients, perform basic and complex gynecologic procedures, and care for patients with both conventional and challenging obstetric and gynecologic needs.
Sample Resident Rotations
Please see the abbreviation key below the charts.
July rotations
August through June rotations
KEY:
AGH = Allegheny General Hospital
Breast/REI = Breast Diagnostic Imaging Center or Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
ED = Emergency Department
FH = Forbes Hospital
FM = Outpatient Family Medicine
GEN = Reproductive Genetics
IM = Outpatient Internal Medicine
MFM = Maternal-Fetal Medicine
OB-D = OB Daytime service
OB-N = OB Night-time service
ONC = Oncology
PS/QI&R = Patient Safety/ Quality Improvement and Review
REI/Anes = Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility or OB Anesthesia
REI/IM = Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility or Outpatient Internal Medicine Team = Team OB-GYN
US = OB Ultrasound
Training sites for our Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Training Program include the following:
Our program fully complies with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) duty hours/week regulations.
Instruction on maintaining compliance with required duty-hour regulations is regularly reviewed with the residents and faculty.
In addition, residents receive training on how to identify and avoid fatigue during their rotations.
A night float rotation is used to ensure compliance with duty hours. Night float is scheduled with three residents on a team (PGY1 to PGY3).
Didactic learning experiences include lectures, hands-on training (simulation) experiences, and conferences. There is also a suggested reading list.
Lectures
Lectures are presented by department and hospital faculty covering a comprehensive list of topics in OB/GYN as well as primary and preventive care. The lecture schedule includes 3 hours of “blocked” lectures every Friday, during which time residents are free from all clinical responsibilities. Topics include the following:
The schedule of lecture topics is designed to repeat every 2 years.
Hands-on Training (simulation)
In addition to the didactic lectures, hands-on training courses with life-like models are available through our simulation center. Our simulation curriculum includes the following courses:
Conferences
The didactic experience is supplemented with interactive educational conferences:
Suggested reading
Recommended texts are listed below by subject. In addition to the texts listed, residents are encouraged to utilize online resources, including literature search engines as well as online texts provided through our health sciences libraries.
CREOG and ACOG resources including Precis, and PROLOG’s can further supplement the educational requirements.
Obstetrics
Gynecology
Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Gynecologic Oncology
Urogynecology
Ambulatory Medicine
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