Frequently Asked Questions

St. Vincent Residency prides itself in its surgical training of residents in Obstetrics & Gynecology. The residents perform a variety of gynecological procedures on their own continuity patients as well as private staff patients at a level commensurate with the resident’s level of training. Additionally, with four fulltime Gyn Oncologists, our oncological service is the busiest in the state. This provides our residents with a very large surgical volume experience, unusual for most community-based programs. This past year, our residents were able to meet and exceed their surgical minimal volumes under the most recent criteria.

Since 2008, the residency has utilized a night float system to cover the bulk of the evening coverage. The shift runs from 6pm to 7am, Sunday through Friday. Two residents participate in night float at a time. Weekend call duties are split amongst the remaining available residents. This results in 1-2 weekend shifts each month as call, thereby enabling the residents to have a better working environment, less fatigue, and more family time.

St. Vincent hosts training programs in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Transitional/Preliminary Year, General Surgery, and Podiatry as well as a Cardiology & Sports Medicine Fellowship programs. Family Medicine residents rotate through the Obstetrical & Clinic Services during their intern year and six weeks of night float during their second year. In addition, Family Medicine Residents also supervise the labor of their own clinic patients. Both the Obstetrics & Gynecology and Family Medicine programs have sufficient volume so there is never “competition” for patients. In this design, the Obstetric residents learn to function as consultants and provide operative delivery should the situation warrant.

The house staff work one to one with the many staff physicians in the management of all private patients. The staff are extremely eager to work with residents and to involve the residents in all aspects of patient care. Once a patient has delivered or had surgery, it is the responsibility of the resident to manage the hospital course of these patients under direct supervision of the attending staff. This allows the residents to experience a diverse approach to patient care. Many of our staff have trained outside of the St. Vincent system and offer a variety of training backgrounds.

All high-risk obstetric patients are followed by the Obstetrics service and staffed by a board certified Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist. Each Tuesday, a very busy High Risk Clinic is scheduled to follow these patients with a wide variety of medical conditions including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. In addition, all Obstetrics residents rotate through the High Risk Obstetrics service during their second and third year. A 26-bed, high-risk unit [the 1st in the state to receive the designation as a Center of Excellence] is adjacent to the Labor & Delivery area specifically designed to provide for the special needs of these patients. By the end of the residency training, all residents are proficient in obstetrical ultrasound.

St. Vincent was the first hospital in the state to receive the designation as a Quaternary Maternal Level of Care Center. It serves as the referral center for the rest of the St. Vincent’s network hospitals as well as many of the community hospitals in the surrounding communities.  Residents actively participate in the care of these women along with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist. On average, there are 15 antepartum patients on-service at all times.

Among each of the four classes, the residents typically score well above the national average. Regularly scheduled CREOG review sessions during didactics allow each resident to discuss various topics covered on CREOG in preparation for the examination.

St. Vincent is dedicated to the education of its residents and to the medical students who rotate on campus. Third year students from Indiana University School of Medicine and Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine spend 4 weeks on the Ob/Gyn rotation. We also host senior medical students who are interested in further training in Obstetrics and Gynecology.  Residents also teach Family Medicine residents clinical concepts on the ward and clinics.

PGY -2 residents are expected to participate in a Quality Assurance in either individual or group projects which gets presented to the residency during normal didactic times in the Spring. Each June, we conduct a Resident Research Day program where PGY-3 residents present clinical research using available clinical data under sponsorship of clinical faculty/staff. PGY-4 residents facilitate presentations and discussion.  Our program financially supports research initiatives; and there is a full-time statistician as part of the GME office.

Each resident has a continuity clinic one time per week, except when on Night Float or their elective rotation. In this setting, residents learn gynecologic skills and develop their ability to function effectively in an office setting. From these clinics, residents generate their own surgical patients which they staff one on one with attending staff. Knowledge of CPT codes and billing also comes from this experience.

Each Wednesday afternoon is specifically set aside for didactic sessions. Residents are excused from all other responsibilities to attend these meetings. Often we have guest professors from around the United States to lecture on various topics. We have regularly scheduled journal clubs, M&M and Pathology conferences. Approximately once a quarter [Fifth Wednesday], we also have a health & wellness curriculum.

St. Vincent’s residents have done extremely well on both the written (qualifying) and oral (certifying) ABOG examinations.

Training at St Vincent’s has not been considered a detriment towards obtaining a fellowship for those truly qualified. Over the past several years, we have had successful matches in MFM, REI, UroGyn, and GynOnc. Please see the listing for recent graduates for a full listing of where our graduates have gone.

Moonlighting is allowed with Program Director approval. Currently, an opportunity to manage a Saturday morning prenatal care clinic at the Indiana Women’s Prison is available to interested PGY 3s & 4s.

Our residency program has a substantial amount of both routine and high risk Obstetrics as well as Gynecologic surgery. In 2008, the residency program was approved for five residents per class. We had over 2900 births last year, 120 multiple gestation deliveries and 950 major gynecologic surgeries.  

Residents rotate and operate at both Women’s Hospital and St. Vincent main campus, as well as the Naab Road Surgical Center; luckily they are all within one block of each other and easily accessible by car, on foot, or the free campus shuttle. In addition, Gyn Service residents are offered the opportunity to participate in care at local affiliated facilities with the “donut” counties surrounding the city with private practitioners. As part of their 3rd year, residents also travel to an outside hospital in Lafayette to participate in an Outside Hospital Gyn Experience which encompasses both office and hospital based surgical experiences.

Yes, during the PGY-3 year. Residents are free to arrange for an off-site, out of state, or global health elective if they so desire. Or they are able to participate in a “default” minimally invasive surgery experience at the Franciscan Health Hospital in Lafayette.