KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE
GENERAL SURGERY RESIDENCY

The hospital has approximately 60 beds (10 ICU beds and 50 medical/surgical beds), and 6 operating rooms to include two da Vinci XI Robotic Surgical Suites and a Siemens Artis Zeego Hybrid Suite.  Our Surgical curriculum is augmented with rotations at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (Transplant, Cardiothoracic, Pediatric Surgery, SICU), Ocean Springs/Singing River Hospital Systems (Cardiovascular/Thoracic, Head/Neck Surgery), Merit Biloxi Hospital (Colorectal), USAISR (Burn Surgery), University of Texas HSCSA (Transplant Surgery).  Moreover, we offer Deployment Surgery experience at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (Germany) in our fourth year of residency.

Keesler is one of four core sites which comprise the majority of your rotations during your residency.  The other three include Sacred Heart, Biloxi VA and Eglin AFB.

Sacred Heart Hospital (Pensacola, FL) is a 566 bed Trauma Level I/II facility.  Serving the greater Florida and Alabama Gulf Coast, Sacred has the acuity and volume of a Level I facility.  The acute care surgical experience obtained while rotating here is second to none.

The Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System (AKA the Biloxi VA) is conveniently located down the road from Keesler Air Force Base, allowing residents on rotation to participate in weekly Wednesday morning conference.  Experience a wide variety of pathology in the fields of vascular, general, and colorectal surgery while giving back to our local veterans.

Eglin Air Force Base (Fort Walton Beach, FL) is located just minutes away from some of the most beautiful beaches in America.  While on rotation in this 56 bed facility, expect to stay busy as Eglin has one of the largest outpatient workloads in the USAF while still supporting a 24-hour ER and surgical / inpatient capabilities.

Additional facilities you will rotate through:
Singing River Health System (Ocean Springs/Pascagoula, MS)
Merit Health System (Biloxi, MS)
University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson, MS)
San Antonio Military Medical Center / USAISR (San Antonio, TX)
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (Kaiserslautern, Germany)

Didactics at Keesler are highly structured and bolstered with enthusiastic attending staff dedicated to furthering your surgical education. Our model is based on the SCORE Portal curriculum, which gives you access to chapters from 12 leading surgical textbooks, 2000+ multiple-choice questions for self-assessment, and This Week in Score (TWIS), which allows us to cover general surgery topics over a two-year cycle.  The topics directly correlate with ABSITE and ABS Qualifying Examinations.

During your fourth and fifth years of residency, residents will participate in quarterly mock oral board sessions.  Residents receive 12 clinical scenarios administered by 6 board certified surgical staff recreating the real life ABS Certifying Board experience.  This is an invaluable resource for residents which helps our graduates exceed the national average for board pass rates.

Weekly Didactic Conferences:
- Wednesday: Protected education time consisting of basic sciences/clinical topics lectures, Kahoot! clinical topics quiz and discussion, Interesting Case / Staff Lectures, Evidence Based Medicine / Journal Club discussions, Morbidity & Mortality Conference, Pre- and Post-operative Case Discussions.
- Friday: Attending Educational Rounds to provide additional directed clinical teaching and education with current residents.

Clinical Research Laboratory established the Institute for Defense Robotic Surgical Education (InDoRSE) for surgeons to train and obtain their official robotic surgery credentials. This is a one of a kind program within the Department of Defense.

Keesler has an established curriculum for Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) and Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES), and now for Fundamentals of Robotic Surgery (FRS). Once a month, residents participate in a day of virtual training either in our laparoscopic/endoscopic sim lab or the operating room with the da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System.

Additional training opportunities occur throughout the year at the CRL porcine lab with live animal models covering a multitude of clinical scenarios in trauma, minimally invasive, robotic and open surgery. These are resident led with attending staff oversight allowing for autonomy with expert assistance available as needed.

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PGY 1
-Biloxi VA
-Orthopedics (Keesler)
-Urology (Keesler)
-ENT/Head and Neck Surgery (Keesler)
-Anesthesia (Keesler)
-General Surgery (Keesler and Eglin AFB)
-Trauma/Acute Care Surgery (Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola)

PGY 2
-Transplant Surgery (UT San Antonio)
-Burn Surgery/BICU (USAISR-BAMC)
-General Surgery (Biloxi VA)
-Trauma/Acute Care (Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola)
-Pediatric Surgery (UMMC)
-Cardiothoracic Surgery (UMMC)
-Surgical ICU (UMMC)

PGY 3
-General Surgery (Keesler and Eglin AFB)
-Vascular Surgery (Keesler)
-Trauma/Acute Care Surgery (Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola)
-Transplant Surgery (UMMC)

PGY4
-Vascular Surgery (Keesler)
-Trauma/Acute Care Surgery (Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola)
-General Surgery (Eglin, Landstuhl)
-Colorectal Surgery (Keesler)
-Cardiovascular/thoracic Surgery (Singing River)
-Elective Surgical Subspecialty

PGY 5
-General and Subspecialty Surgery (Keesler, Eglin, Biloxi VA, Singing River)
-Trauma/Acute Care Surgery (Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola)

The Air Force will provide lodging at the Tyre House (base hotel) during your month at Keesler. Lodging cost is reimbursed. The hotel is located one block from the hospital and is an easy walk.

Visit the DoD Lodging site for more details.

HPSP students are provided a rental car for the month and is reimbursed by the AF upon completion of the month.

USUHS students are not always provided a rental car and it is up to the clinical coordinator/school to decide as to whether or not one will be provided.

Please contact Ms  Angela Dillon at angela.j.dillon.civ@health.mil for additional information.

Surgical Services:
General Surgery
Vascular Surgery
Orthopedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Ophthalmology

Medical Services:
Internal Medicine
Gastroenterology
Cardiology
Flight and Operational Medicine
Family Medicine
Pediatrics
Women's Health / OBGYN

Other subspecialty services are provided by local community hospitals.

On average, a surgical resident will spend about 4-6 months out of the year at one of our remote training sites.  This allows our surgical residents to learn a wide breadth of knowledge and surgical skills from a variety of staff surgeons who trained in different areas of the country, to become a well-rounded surgeon who is worldwide mission-ready at the time of graduation.  Lodgings close to each travel rotation sites are provided and paid for, in addition to full per-diem rates during the rotations.

ACGME restricts residents to working 80 hours or less in a given week and Keesler enforces a strict adherence to this policy.  A typical resident will work between 60-80hrs on average.  Call schedule is determined by Chief Resident at each core rotation sites.

How much vacation will I get as a resident?
PGY-1s can take 2 weeks of leave
PGY-2s and up can take 3 weeks of leave

Weekends and holidays are not included unless the resident is leaving town.

There are many locations on base and at the hospital to eat breakfast or lunch. KMC has a cafeteria open from 0600-0800hrs during the week for breakfast and 1130-1230hrs for lunch.  Alternatively, there is a mini-market open 24 hours that serves snacks/frozen dinners/quick meals.  There is also a coffee shop on the ground-level floor that serves fresh coffee, muffins, pastries, and other snack foods.

Residents are provided their own desk and computer in a shared collaboration area, co-located with Internal Medicine residents.  A small kitchen, break area/lounge, lockers are available.  Each desk is equipped with personal storage space and shelving.  We also have a residency wellness lounge that features a TV, an elliptical, a whiteboard, and comfortable couches. 

Yes, two call rooms are reserved and available for surgery residents.  Clean bedding is provided daily and there are showers available in the call rooms.

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Our surgical residents graduate with approximately 1000 major cases.  Please see below for our Chiefs' case logs at the beginning of their PGY-5 year.