Sifrance Tran holds open the incision as Randy Cooper fishes out a piece of breast tissue that contains a hard lump in the center.
In 40 minutes, Dr. Tran and Dr. Cooper removed sentinel lymph nodes to check for the spread of the breast cancer and performed a lumpectomy to remove the 9-millimeter tumor. Although Dr. Tran has only been working with Dr. Cooper for a couple of weeks, they have already found their rhythm.
"I know what he wants to do, and I know what he expects me to do," said Dr. Tran, a third-year resident in general surgery at Medical College of Georgia. Officials are hoping a renewed residency partnership between University and MCG goes as smoothly.
Once the teaching hospital for the school, University stopped hosting residents a few years ago when an 80-hour-a-week restriction was imposed and MCG pulled back its residents to cover its services. Earlier this month, University began supporting two surgical residency positions and could increase that in future years to 14 positions, said William Farr, the chief medical officer for University.
Those residents will become even more important as MCG expands its School of Medicine class next year from 190 to 230 per class, as resident interaction is a key component of medical education, said Dean D. Douglas Miller.
"When we expand the class we will need to take advantage of hospitals all across the state that have affiliated residency programs and University is a good example of a local option that we can exercise in that regard, now that there are residents there," he said.
MCG is talking with health systems around the state about expanding residency programs, and particularly with Athens, Savannah and Albany, where MCG has or is establishing satellite campuses. Hospitals in Athens and Gainesville, for instance, are pondering adding more than 100 residency positions as MCG establishes a branch campus of the School of Medicine in Athens in conjunction with the University of Georgia. MCG is developing a clinical campus in Savannah and has one in Albany. But expanding residency programs could be made more difficult because the programs typically take three years to establish from scratch and don't fully pay for themselves in those first few years, Dr. Miller said. State budget cuts could also hurt, he said.
"There may be a slower build or there may be a more focused development in certain areas as a result of that," Dr. Miller said.
For Dr. Tran, having a position at University has some very practical benefits. He was performing his seventh procedure Friday afternoon with Dr. Cooper, and had scrubbed in on 30 to 40 cases over the past two weeks, more than he might have seen at MCG.
"The numbers here are for sure fantastic," he said. Dr. Tran gets to pick up different tips and techniques from surgeons such as Dr. Cooper in a different atmosphere from an academic medical center.
"I get to see the best of both worlds," Dr. Tran said. And the surgeons at University enjoy it, Dr. Cooper said.
"They are a great help to us," he said. "Makes us work a little harder and keep up a lot more."
And together, University and MCG could be a formidable teaching environment, said Dr. Cooper, who was an MCG resident himself.
"They've got strengths, and we've got strengths," he said.
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
MEDICAL HISTORY
University Hospital, founded as City Hospital in 1818, became the teaching facility for what was then called Medical Academy of Georgia in 1828.
The relationship continued through various buildings and names until the state built Medical College of Georgia, a teaching hospital that opened in 1956.
University continued to teach students and host residents after that, but the residents were finally removed a few years ago when a national rule dictated that residents could work no more than 80 hours per week.
Some residents began returning to train at University in 2007, and the hospital formally sponsored two surgical residency positions this month, with more likely to come.
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I've been saying forever that this is how you increase physicians in the state. It does no good to send students through medical school only to have them leave the state for their residencies where they are likely to stay after completing training.
I"m so glad to see University and MCG working together again instead of against each other as competition.I am retired from University after 38 years of nursing and I can tell you that when I start nursing a partnership between hospitals was the norm,and it was a lot better for patients,staff and for all.This young doctor is so lucky to be under the watchful eye of Dr.Cooper who is a wonderful doctor and a fine man.
Dr. Cooper is the best! He saved my mother's life. What a great doctor to train under.