Conferences

The Department of Otolaryngology Weekly Conference & Lecture Schedule

We begin every week with Faculty directed, ENT sub-specialty focused lectures on Monday afternoon at 5:30 PM. These lectures are either in didactic, case review or oral board review format. The rotating schedule for the Monday evening lectures is as follows: 

1st Monday:   Pediatric Otolaryngology - Drs. Kirse, Evans & Whigham
2nd Monday:  Rhinology Conference - Drs. Matthews & Plonk
3rd Monday:  Allergy Conference - Dr. Mims
4th Monday:  Skull Base/Head & Neck Reconstruction Conference - Drs. Browne & Waltonen

Our heaviest conference day is each Wednesday:

Each Wednesday begins at 6:45 AM with Basic Science Conference involving focused discussions of assigned chapter readings from the Bailey’s textbook.  Corresponding COCLIA learning modules, published by the AAO-HNS, are discussed as well.  Each resident is assigned one question relating to the COCLIA topic for that week and prepares a handout to give the other residents.  The COCLIA questions are compiled into a notebook by each resident to create a study guide to assist with preparation for the American Board of Otolaryngology's yearly In-Service Exam.  This is a two year rotating curriculum thus each resident is exposed to the COCLIA/Bailey’s topics twice during his/her training.  Near the time of the yearly Otolaryngology Training Exam, the residents use this 6:45 AM time slot for group review and study. 

Following Basic Science each Wednesday Otolaryngology Grand Rounds occurs at 7:30 AM-8:20 AM and are Category I CME conferences, attended by faculty, all residents, rotating students and community Otolaryngologists.  Six times a year Grand Rounds are devoted to the review of interesting, difficult, and/or educational audiology cases and are attended by the audiology staff as well.  Also six times a year Grand Rounds are focused Morbidity & Mortality case discussions. Four times a year the Department of Radiology joins us for NeuroRadiology/ENT Grand Rounds to review interesting cases of the last few weeks or to discuss operative cases scheduled for the upcoming weeks.  This conference is under the direction of Dr. Dan Williams of the Radiology Department in conjunction with a PGY-2 otolaryngology residents who is responsible for collecting the cases to be reviewed. Our department also sponsors quarterly Guest Lectureships.  When a guest lecturer is in town they will present at Grand Rounds - always providing fresh innovations and updates on a variety of otolaryngology topics.  Guest lecturers also present a Tuesday evening Dinner Lecture held off campus.

Each week following Grand Rounds from 8:20 AM to 9:15 AM the residents have rotating didactic lectures on Speech Pathology, Audiology, Coding Updates, Ethics in Medicine & Pathology in ENT.  Presenters come from each of these respective departments.(Faculty with operating room block time beginning at 8:30 AM, start their cases without resident support to allow all to attend these 8:20-9:15 AM lectures.)

The last Wednesday each month from 6:45 AM to 9:00 AM is devoted to Temporal Bone Lab.  This hands-on lab includes discussion and presentation of Temporal Bone dissections lead by our faculty Associate Professor John S. May, MD. Dissections are visualized by a 3-D video feed from a dissection microscope. Dr. May has developed a syllabus & level-specific yearly dissection goals.   The lab begins either with a didactic lecture followed by temporal bone dissection, and/or a live 3-D dissection, then followed by each resident dissecting with his supervision.

At 12:00 Noon each Wednesday is Head and Neck Tumor Board, a multi-disciplinary working conference that is attended by representative faculty and residents from Otolaryngology, Radiation Therapy, Hematology/Oncology, Dentistry, Pathology, and Neuroradiology. 

Lastly, every Wednesday @ 5:30 PM are the remaining faculty directed sub-specialty lectures, again either in didactic, case review or oral board review format. The rotating schedule for the Wednesday evening conference is as follows: 

1st Wednesday:  Otology Conference - Drs. May & Oliver
2nd Wednesday: Facial Plastics Conference - Dr. Goldman
3rd Wednesday:  Laryngology Conference - Drs. Butler, Lintzenich & Wright
4th Wednesday:  Head and Neck Conference - Dr. Waltonen 

The department also has a monthly Journal Club directed by rotating faculty member teams.  On occasion Journal Clubs take place off-campus.