The Department of Surgery and Anesthesia participates in didactic teaching throughout the four years of medical school by teaching, lecturing, and participating in workshops. In the second year, the department offers a skills-based surgery elective. Several small group open forums are offered to interested second year students to provide information on how best to proceed in choosing rotations that will optimally prepare them for their pursuit of a residency in Surgery or Anesthesia. The department is responsible for the required core clinical rotation during the third year in General Surgery. Using both preceptor-based and ward-based clinical settings, this rotation helps the student transition from the classroom to the clinical environment by exposing the student to various aspects of patients in a General Surgery practice. Prior to the core General Surgery rotation, each student participates in a required skills-based workshop that maximize the student's learning potential and successful completion of the core surgery rotation. The hands-on skills lab consists of five separate stations including airway management; scrubbing, gowning, gloving and operating room etiquette; surgical documentation and chart review for patient management; wound closure principles and techniques; and an OMM station covering the diagnosis and treatment for common postoperative surgical problems. During the rotation, students are required to meet with department faculty in a small-group setting to formally present interesting cases in which they have participated during the rotation. During the fourth year, the department oversees elective surgical rotations including, Anesthesia, Burns, Colorectal, Neurological Surgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Thoracic/Cardiovascular Surgery, Transplant Surgery, Trauma Surgery, Urology, and Vascular Surgery. Together with the Department of Internal Medicine, the department also coordinates a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) Core clinical rotation.