Training & Curriculum

On inpatient services of obstetrics, gynecology and gynecologic oncology, residents are supervised by both full-time faculty and private attending physicians in the care of their patients and patients of the resident service. The residents operate with both faculty members and private attending physicians and are responsible for patients' perioperative care, in consultation with the supervising physician. The attending staff delegates responsibility that is appropriate to the resident's level of training and experience. Residents benefit from high-volume services at both Cedars-Sinai and Kaiser Hawaii.

Residents participate in their continuity clinic at the Planned Parenthood Santa Monica location throughout their four years of training. Under supervision of Cedars-Sinai faculty, residents provide comprehensive obstetrics and gynecology services. In this setting, residents develop important skills in gynecologic ultrasound, complex family planning, colposcopy and common office procedures and provide inpatient care for their patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Through our PPLA Care program, residents are able to provide gynecologic surgery and obstetric care for their uninsured continuity patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center without cost to the patient. In addition, residents provide outpatient gynecology specialty care at the Primary Adult Care clinic at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Each week residents have four hours of protected time for educational programming to cover the curriculum, journal article review, Morbidity & Mortality (M&M) Conferences and Grand Rounds. Educational activities also include simulation activities and other hands-on learning experiences. Other weekly conferences occur on the gynecology, high-risk obstetrics, fetal monitoring, gynecologic oncology, gynecologic pathology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, family planning and urogynecology services.

Resident wellness is a high priority at Cedars-Sinai. In addition to the available institutional wellness resources, an evidence-based wellness curriculum has been incorporated for the OB-GYN residents at Cedars-Sinai. In addition to being educational, this functional curriculum also provides practical exercises in mindfulness, resiliency, positive psychology, among others. Topics that are covered include: resiliency, empathy and positive psychology, managing priorities, communication, sleep and self-care, nutrition and physical health, substance abuse, leadership and sponsorship, mentoring and coaching, and financial wellness.

Residents are required to complete at least one research project, under faculty adviser direction. Residents have a dedicated research rotation in the second year of training to help support their research efforts. Residents present their research proposal in the fall of their second year and their completed study and results at a "Residents’ Research Day" in the spring of their third year. As a graduation requirement, residents prepare a manuscript suitable for publication.

Each resident is required to complete one patient safety project or quality improvement project. Residents present their completed project and findings at a dedicated "Patient Safety" conference in the spring of their chief year as a graduation requirement. Residents also participate in patient safety educational programming including lectures, simulations and drills, and attend root cause analysis and quality improvement/risk management meetings.

The Cedars-Sinai Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology stands united in the fight against systemic racism, inequity and health disparities. In 2020, we created the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) Health Initiative, with the goals of educating our faculty, residents and fellows on the historical context of racism in our healthcare system and exploring potential solutions to address disparities in OB/GYN. Our educational initiatives include a JEDI Grand Rounds lecture series, resident didactics and a shared OB/GYN library of books and films. Our department has also created a task force of residents and faculty with specific goals (diversity and inclusion, clinical practice, community engagement, department assessment/training).