Our Curriculum
Our residency program provides a comprehensive teaching program with ample research opportunities. All sub-specialties are actively involved in teaching as are our fellowship-trained specialists in Minimally Invasive Surgery, Pelvic Pain and Family Planning. The major subspecialty clinics include Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology, Gynecologic Oncology, and Urogynecology. Other areas of interest taught through teaching clinics include colposcopy, vulvar dysplasia, resident surgery clinic, transgender health, sexual health, adolescent care, contraception, high-risk breast care, and fetal and placental pathology.
Conferences occur every Thursday morning which include: Grand Rounds, OB M&M, Surgical M&M, Gynecologic Ultrasound, and Pre-Operative Conference. On Tuesday mornings there is an hour of case-based learning for the gynecology team led by an attending physician. Protected teaching time occurs every Tuesday morning from 9AM-1:30PM. During this protected time residents have traditional didactics as well as a variety of hands-on learning experiences.
Residents are required to conduct a research project. At the end of the fourth year, residents present their project at the Kaiser Ob/Gyn Bay Area Residents Research Symposium along with Ob/Gyn residents from Santa Clara and San Francisco.
Kaiser Permanente and Alameda Health System (Highland General Hospital) Partnership
We expanded our residency complement from 4 residents per year to 6 per year for the 2019-2020 academic year. The increase in our resident cohort opened clinical and surgical learning opportunities for our residents, both within the Kaiser Permanente East Bay integrated health system and through a new training partnership with Highland General Hospital (HGH), our local community hospital which is part of the larger Alameda Health System (AHS). Residents rotate at Highland General Hospital and through clinics in the AHS for 2 months every academic year with Dr. Lasha Pierce as the Site Director. The partnership with HGH has expanded our residents’ training with additional surgical experience, trauma medicine and the opportunity to care for the most underserved and vulnerable members of our East Bay Community. a somewhat larger residency, we are also taking advantage of creative learning opportunities, thus providing individualization of the residents’ learning experience and increased resident well-being.
The Highland OB/GYN faculty are a diverse group of dedicated educators who value excellence in patient care and quality. With a unique lens of ensuring health equity, they work tirelessly in the service of the families of Alameda County and beyond. The department mission statement:
Maternal Child Health is here for ALL women in our community. We are a diverse community of health care professionals committed and empowered to provide excellent, evidence-based, compassionate, and collaborative women’s health care. We work to eliminate health care disparities for patients throughout their life span while promoting personal wellness and educating future providers.
Evaluations
The residents are evaluated in a 360-degree fashion by each other, the nurses, medical students, patients, and the faculty in an ongoing process. Surgical evaluations, individual rotation, clinic, and didactic evaluations are also collected regularly. A summative evaluation is then performed in person by the program director every six months which also includes the individual resident’s goals, discussion of research projects, mock oral examination performance, case log review, resident self-evaluation and individual dashboard which gives feedback about responses to patient emails and results. Evaluations are based upon the six ACGME competencies. In addition, the Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) evaluates individual resident performance based on the milestones. The in-service training examination (CREOG) results are reviewed annually, and an individual learning plan is created for each resident. In addition, the residents evaluate the program during their semi-annual evaluation, anonymously every year via a survey and in an open forum every six months at the retreats which allows the academic program to consistently grow and improve.
Organized Teaching Activities
| Name of Activity | Frequency |
| OB Olympics | Once a year |
| GYN Olympics | Once a year |
| Obstetrical Emergency Training | Once a year |
| Mock Oral Exam | Every 6 months |
| OB Grand Rounds | Quarterly |
| Surgical M&M Conference | Quarterly |
| Journal Club | Every other month |
| GYN Radiology Conference | Every other month |
| Perinatology-Pediatric Conference | Every other month |
| OB M&M Conference | Monthly |
| Pre-Operative Conference | Monthly |
| Laparoscopic Simulation Training | Monthly |
| Hospital Grand Rounds | Weekly |
| OB/GYN Resident Didactics | Weekly |
| Case-Based Learning in GYN | Weekly |
The Ob/Gyn Residency Program at Kaiser Permanente Oakland (East Bay) provides a structured educational experience designed to prepare the graduating resident equally well for independent general practice of obstetrics and gynecology or for further subspecialty training, as well as to serve as consultants to non-obstetrician-gynecologist health care providers. The overall educational objectives of the program are derived from the core competencies set forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Sample of protected teaching time:
Oakland OBGYN Sample Teaching Schedule
Simulation
Kaiser Oakland has a Patient Safety Simulation Training Center with a high-fidelity simulation “family” available for resident training. Obstetrical Emergency training occurs within this simulation center. In addition, Dr. Eve Zaritsky has developed a gynecologic surgery simulation program with multiple laparoscopic simulators available in the resident office for resident use at any time. She collaborated with the general surgery residency program to develop a joint surgical simulation program based upon the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) criteria for laparoscopic skills. All residents additionally participate in monthly laparoscopic skills training during their GYN rotation using laparoscopic trainers available to all residents in the resident office 24 hours a day. Our residents also train on the robotic console in anticipation of robotic cases during their GYN and GYNONC rotations.
Obstetrical Emergency Simulation takes place at the Patient Safety Simulation Training Center here at Kaiser Oakland. These simulations allow residents to practice through obstetric emergencies such as shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or hemorrhage, and then review learning points from their simulated experiences with the group.
The residents collect a short case list and participate in a simulated oral examination for Gyn, OB and Clinic. This not only prepares them for the ABOG oral board examination after residency but also encourages learning and improves oral communication skills.
Critical Events Team Training (CETT)
Critical Event Team Training consists of simulated obstetrical emergencies performed on the actual labor and delivery unit with all members of the labor and delivery team involved. Every team member from the resident to the operator is involved in testing our care system. This encourages team communication and learning in addition to hands-on learning regarding obstetrical emergencies. We are dedicated to providing a flexible learning environment that includes high and low fidelity simulation.
Rotation Schedule
Two months – Obstetrics Service
Two months – Gynecology Service
Two months – Highland (Alameda Health System)
Two months – Night Float
One month – Emergency Department
Two weeks – Intensive Care Unit
Two weeks – Palliative Care
One month – Maternal-Fetal Medicine
One month – Ultrasound/fetal pathology
Continuity Clinic begins during the first year of training
Two months – Obstetrics Service
Two months – Gynecology Service
Two months – Highland (Alameda Health System)
Two months – Night Float
Two months – Gynecologic Oncology
One month – Family Planning/ambulatory clinic
One month – REI/ambulatory clinic
Two months – Obstetrics Service
Two months – Gynecology Service
Two months – Ambulatory Clinic
Two months – Highland (Alameda Health System)
Two months – Elective
One month – Night Float
One month – Jeopardy
Two months – Obstetrics Service
Two months – Gynecology Service
Two months – Ambulatory Clinic
Two months – Highland (Alameda Health System)
Two months – Gynecologic Oncology
One month – Night Float
One month – Jeopardy
Elective Rotations
There are two call-free elective months in our curriculum, both in the PGY3 year. This timing allows each resident to have a license at the time of the elective and thus participate more fully in the rotation. The elective rotations are arranged by the residents themselves and are meant to be flexible and encourage a focus in any area of interest within women’s health. Each resident meets with the Program Director and presents his/her goals and objectives for the elective month to obtain approval for the rotation.
We encourage creative use of this time that will assist the individual resident in obtaining their long-term career goals. To this end, Dr. Jennifer Austin Conti participated in the Medical Unit Internship at ABC News. On this rotation she was able to combine her interest in journalism with medicine doing research for the medical correspondents and writing health news stories.
Many of our residents participate in at least one international experience. In addition, residents have used their electives to pursue further training in select areas like sexual health or infectious disease or spend time at potential fellowship sites. Some residents choose to use their elective to complete additional research projects. A valuable resource available to our residents is the Kaiser Permanente Global Health Program which enables clinical faculty and residents to provide medical care at various locations around the globe. Residents can apply and often get funding to go abroad thanks to our well-funded Global Health Program. Please visit our blog with thoughts and photographs from around the world of residents from all programs participating in international electives: http://kpglobalhealth.wordpress.com.
The Matibabu Foundation in western Kenya was the first affiliated program, founded in 2004 by Dr. Gail Wagner, a Kaiser Oncologist. This program provides training, equipment, and medical care in pediatrics, women’s health, tropical medicine, and HIV care to the people of Ugenya, Kenya, and the surrounding areas.
