General Surgery and Trauma

Our general surgery/trauma/surgical critical care APP fellowship program is an intense, highly structured, comprehensive program designed to give you exposure to all the different areas of general surgery, trauma and surgical critical care. We will provide a large volume of patient care experiences, selected lectures, simulations and professional development sessions. Our goal is to use evidence-based medicine through a mix of didactic and clinical experiences to help you develop the specialized skills needed across the continuum of surgical and trauma care.

This fellowship is designed for self-motivated, eager, and knowledgeable new advanced practice provider graduates who excelled in their previous APP training and now wish to build upon those skills to take them to the next level in surgical care through our high acuity program. The fellow will learn all aspects of general surgery, trauma and surgical critical care using many educational modalities. The variety of strategies will teach how to assess, diagnose, and treat cardiac conditions using the latest guidelines. Fellows can expect to attend lectures and learning sessions throughout this one-year program.

Our APP Program includes board-certified general surgery, trauma, and critical care surgeons, as well as experienced physician assistants and nurse practitioners. WakeMed general surgery and trauma surgeons as well as APPs care for patients at three hospitals and across a number of outpatient settings across Wake County. Our highly trained interdisciplinary teams are ready to care for patients with major trauma, general surgery needs, and critical illness. WakeMed Raleigh is home to Wake County’s only Level I Trauma Center, which was first designated in 2006 and re-designated in 2012. WakeMed Cary was also designated as a Level III Trauma Center in 2018.

WakeMed has a large group of general surgeons who practice in a variety of specialties including acute care, general surgery, bariatric and minimally invasive surgery, colorectal, and breast surgery. These surgeons have a long history of providing APP education, as our surgical APP fellowship has been training APPs in the fellowship program since 2008. Fellows at the Raleigh campus will also train alongside a diverse health care team including surgical residents and interns from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

General Surgery and Trauma APP Fellowship Curriculum Overview

Surgical APP Fellows are integrated into a diverse team of providers and paired with mentors to guide them through their year. Our curriculum maintains a clinical focus on the management of surgical patients across the peri-operative spectrum including inpatient floors, emergency departments, operating rooms, intensive care units, and outpatient clinics.

Core Rotations

APP fellows will complete three core rotations: general surgery, trauma, and surgical critical care. They also can enhance their skills by completing off-service rotations of a surgical elective of their choosing.

Progression

Fellows will demonstrate progression of technical skills by assisting in the operating room and performing bedside procedures under the supervision of faculty.

Completion

Didactic curriculum and CME is offered in a variety of methods, including mortality and morbidity conference, educational lectures and seminars, one-on-one clinical education, mentoring, and monthly professional developmental days. Our fellows will participate in improving care for our patients by completing a quality improvement project. ATLS, ACLS, BLS and PALS certifications are provided to the fellow at the beginning of the fellowship.