Introduction to Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for 3rd Year Medical Students

Rounds begin at 0600. On the first day of rotation, students should report to the 6 West Round Room to pre-round with the assigned intern. If you get lost please page the intern using the virtual pager system (ext. 89006). The paging operator can also be reached at (310) 825.6301.

Goals and Requirements of the Two Week Clerkship:

The overall goal of this rotation is to introduce you to the principles of evaluation and management of Plastic Surgery patients. Under the direction of the Plastic Surgery Chief Resident, you participate as a member of the plastic surgery team and attend the following:

  • Morning rounds and patient management
  • Inpatient and outpatient surgery
  • Outpatient clinic
  • Multidisciplinary Craniofacial Clinic
  • Revlon Breast Center
  • Plastic Surgery didactic conferences

In addition, you will be asked to:

  • Meet with the clerkship director, Charles Tseng, MD, during the second week of your rotation to review your performance and obtain constructive feedback.
  • Obtain daily sign-out from the chief resident before leaving the hospital
  • Round with the team on one weekend day during the rotation.
  • Participate in any overnight call surgeries or procedures (encouraged, but not required). 
  • Observe the following cases:  
    • Breast Reconstruction via Free Flap
    • Breast Reconstruction via Tissue Expander
    • Ear Reconstruction
    • Cleft Lip / Palate Repair
    • Rhytidectomy
  • Observe at least one of the following cases:
    • Abdominoplasty
    • Mandibular Osteotomy
    • Nipple / Areolar Reconstruction
    • Le Fort Osteotomy

View MSIII Clerkship Schedule 

Open Book Exam

This open book exam is being provided to you as a study aid and as an outline to guide your reading.  It will not be collected or graded.  You are encouraged to discuss the questions below with the intern and the chief resident.  To download the exam, click here.

Evaluation of Student Performance

You will be evaluated by a member of the faculty and by the Plastic Surgery Chief Resident based on the following:

A. Evaluation of patients
The plastic surgery patient often has a very focused problem. You will be exposed to evaluation and management of such problems. The H&P should be aimed at focusing on the specific problem and salient concerns related to the problem as the primary goal of the evaluation. 

Plastic surgery patients often have multiple medical problems that will need to be addressed as well. These should be incorporated as part of your evaluation.  Many of the new patients that you see will have either undergone surgery or will require surgery. Thus, a comprehensive H&P is still required. 

You will also begin to develop skills succinct oral presentation skills (i.e the pertinent points of the H&P) to the residents and attending faculty on inpatient wards and in the outpatient clinic setting.

B. Diagnostic Aspects of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
By the end of the rotation, you should be familiar with a variety of diagnostic modalities in the field of plastic surgery, and be aware of their indications, limitations, risks and alternatives. These include CT scan, MRI, and biopsy / pathology evaluation of the presenting problem.

C. Surgical Treatment
You will have operative exposure to inpatient and outpatient plastic and reconstructive surgery, and should become familiar with the preoperative evaluation of these patients, as well as the basic instrumentation utilized for various procedures. You should gain knowledge of the potential risks of the surgery that you are observing, as well as the postoperative care and follow-up that will be required. 

Conference Schedule

You are encouraged to check the schedule regularly and should plan to attend all conferences and lectures that are scheduled during your elective. Dress code for the dinner conference is business casual. View conference schedule

Contact Information

Coordinator: Hugo Mannings

Email: [email protected]

Address:
200 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 460
Los Angeles, CA 90095