Obstetrics & Gynecology - Obstetrics & Gynecology San Francisco

Message from our Program Leadership

Our residency is an ideal hybrid of university and community-based programs. We have tremendous research opportunities and a rigorous academic environment in which to train the next generation of ObGyn physician-leaders. We offer high volume obstetric and surgical experiences with teaching faculty in all sub-specialties. We are defined by our supportive and safe learning environment. Our dedicated faculty provide exceptional education, supervision, and mentorship. We value compassion, professionalism, evidence-based medicine, advocacy and physician well-being. Our graduate physicians are prepared to enter practice as a comprehensive full scope ObGyn or as a subspecialty fellow.

We offer particularly strong training in minimally invasive surgical techniques; high-risk obstetrics; family planning; and transgender care. We serve a large and diverse patient population. Our training in systems-based practice is robust and residents master the skills needed to improve the health care systems they work in. We prioritize simulation, patient safety, and clinical quality improvement, all introduced early in residency training and instilled as part of our culture. The clinical and leadership opportunities fostered during residency have aided many of our graduates to take on leadership roles in their post-residency practices, both inside and outside of Kaiser Permanente. We are extremely proud of our resident graduates.

On behalf of our program, we welcome you to explore and learn about our program.

Erin Niemasik, MD (PD); Erica Weiss, MD (APD); Stephanie Terry, MD (APD); Maryl Sackeim, MD (APD), Claire Tobias, MD, (APD)

Program Overview

Our program offers exceptional clinical training within a positive learning environment. The abundant clinical and surgical experience our program provides is augmented by an academically vigorous teaching program. Our academic program includes strong core didactics delivered in protected teaching time; extensive longitudinal surgical skills curriculum; significant experience with minimally invasive surgery including laparoscopic and robotic surgery; tremendous research support and opportunities; robust normal and high-risk obstetrics; regularly scheduled Critical Event Team Training sessions; and intensive attention to patient safety and clinical quality improvement.

Residents have the opportunity to learn and provide care within an organization that is a world-wide leader in health care delivery and are afforded the full support that faculty receive to provide care to patients and learn systems-based practice. Our organization is at the forefront of using electronic systems to improve patient care. We have harnessed these powerful tools to make learning more efficient and facilitate research efforts. We follow patients longitudinally through all aspects of the continuum of care, giving trainees exposure to principles of population management, evidence-based medicine, quality improvement, and team-based acute and chronic care – the cornerstones of Kaiser Permanente medicine. Our Ob/Gyn Department at Kaiser San Francisco is a Supporting Institution and Founding Member of The Society for Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology (http://www.sasgog.org/), and a member of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (https://www.cmqcc.org/).

We are strongly committed to providing graded responsibility for residents as they progress through our program and care for our large patient population. These patients reflect the diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of San Francisco, including those of economic disadvantage. Our faculty are on duty in the hospital at all times to provide residents with supervision and immediate consultation. The high ratio of staff to residents in the ambulatory setting promotes strong oversight and education. The camaraderie among the residents and faculty creates a supportive environment conducive to learning and individual growth. Our teaching program is designed to foster a sense of intellectual curiosity and to stimulate residents to develop the life-long learning habits needed to master the evolving information required to provide quality obstetric, gynecologic, and primary health care for women.

In addition to sponsoring the ObGyn Residency training program, our San Francisco Medical Center supports many other learners in Undergraduate, Graduate and Post-Graduate Medical Education. We regularly have UCSF MS 3’s on OB, GYN and ambulatory services, as well as hosting MS 4’s for sub-internships. We also have a longitudinal MS3 year-long clinical clerkship with UCSF. We have a joint UCSF/Kaiser San Francisco Gyn-Onc fellowship; and we support the UCSF/Kaiser East Bay FPMRS fellowship with rotations in transgender medicine at our Medical Center. Outside of ObGyn, there are many other residencies and fellowship programs that our Medical Center supports either independently or with UCSF, including: IM, Pediatrics, Surgery, Cardiology, Heme-Onc, GI, EM, Vascular Surgery, Anesthesia.

Caring for vulnerable populations – Transgender Health

The Path to Transgender Care: After years of providing collaborative care for our Transgender patients, in 2013 we launched our Adult Gender Pathways clinic under the direction of Dr. Erica Weiss, our Associate Program Director and Dr. Erica Metz, who is now the Kaiser Permanente Regional Medical Director for Transgender Health and is the recent recipient of the Cecil Cutting Leadership Award, the most prestigious award given in our organization. Follow this link to learn more: https://tpmgawards.kaiserpermanente.org/cutting-leadership/2018/erica-metz-md/.

We now have a full comprehensive gender-affirming surgery program directed by Dr. Ali Salim. Not only do patients travel from around the region to our medical center for these procedures, but surgeons rotate here to learn directly from our team. Dr. Salim works directly with our residents in the operating room, as well as in caring for the patients during their hospital course and in the office setting during consultations and postoperative care visits.

Building on this unique area of expertise we have developed a rotation on Transgender Health and Advocacy for PGY2’s, and all residents continue to rotate in transgender specialty clinics during their ambulatory rotations.

Resident Well-Being

Our Residency Training Program has made a commitment to foster an environment of finding joy and meaning in medicine. Attention to psychological, emotional, and physical well-being in both professional and personal resident life is prioritized. Our resident wellness program includes supporting time to engage in team-building activities, personal wellness, and fostering resiliency. For our interns and incoming chiefs, we begin the year with an evening of readings where we discuss a narrative that may evoke our emotions. In addition, there is also protected time to address topics such as compassion fatigue, creating a personal wellness plan, and fostering resilience and gratitude. We also have two Resident Wellness Chairs to coordinate efforts among classes for social gatherings, group exercise, and team building activities. Residents also enjoy a yearly Fall retreat, where they come together for 24-hours without clinical responsibilities, to strengthen their relationships outside of work and have fun together in the San Francisco Bay Area. We strongly believe that a focus on resident wellness is the core to a successful program and retention of joy and meaning in medicine.

Kaiser San Francisco ObGyn Residency Program’s Vision, Mission, Goals, and Aims

Vision

To improve the health of patients, their families, and the communities they live in.

Mission

To transform ObGyn residents into specialist and sub-specialist physician-leaders who deliver exceptional patient care and improve the health care systems in which they work.

Goals

To graduate ObGyn residents who:

• are competent and prepared to provide full-scope comprehensive obgyn care or enter fellowship training;
• consistently advocate for their patients, particularly those in vulnerable populations and promote health equity;
• become leaders in their practices and organizations;
• are committed to patient safety, clinical quality improvement, and systems-based practice;
• are life-long learners.

AIMS

To achieve our goals we aim to:

• provide academic training in a positive learning environment;
• practice and teach evidence-based medicine in a patient-centered care approach;
• learn from simulation and critical event team training;
• emphasize minimally invasive surgical techniques;
• foster an environment of critical thinking, inquisition, and research;
• attend to resident and faculty well-being;
• value a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment;
• show respect and sensitivity to diverse and vulnerable patient populations.