Surgery Residency Program

The Surgery Residency Program at Ochsner Health is a 5-year ACGME-accredited free-standing residency program. The Ochsner General Surgery Program is nonpyramidal, entering one preliminary and seven categorical PGY I interns, and graduating seven chief residents. Ochsner is located in the suburbs of New Orleans, close to the excitement of one of the nation's premier cities for food and entertainment but safely removed from the hectic pace of urban life. The mission of the Ochsner Surgery Program is to provide broad-based experience and training in all facets of general surgery practice and science. This is accomplished by providing an ideal mix of training venues, a talented and academically oriented staff, a well-planned educational curriculum, extensive research activity, regular resident-program director interaction and feedback, and outstanding fellowship and employment opportunities.

The clinical training for the Surgery program at Ochsner occurs at three facilities. The Ochsner Clinic Foundation main campus in New Orleans provides over 75% of the resident's experience. The Ochsner Health is an integrated health care system in Southeast Louisiana that provides routine and specialty care for patients from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle. The resident experience also includes rotations at the Ochsner Kenner, West Bank, Baptist, and Northshore locations.

Approximately 15% of the surgical resident's experience is derived from rotations at the Leonard Chabert Medical Center (LCMC) in Houma, Louisiana, 55 miles southeast of New Orleans. LCMC provides state-supported medical care to the underserved population in the bayou country. This critical access hospital serves a rural patient population. In addition to a busy emergency room, patients access the hospital through an adjacent clinic facility, which evaluates more than 150 patients per week. There are no specific general surgical subspecialties at Chabert Medical Center; therefore, subspecialty care including upper and lower Endoscopy is performed by the surgical team.

The remaining 10% of each resident’s experience is provided on the region’s only Level I Trauma Service at the newly constructed University Medical Center (UMC) for rotations in Trauma/Critical Care in New Orleans. UMC is a Level I trauma center located 5.4 miles from the main campus of Ochsner.