Department of
Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences

Education

Our 4-year training and educational curriculum provides a comprehensive experience in all areas of obstetrics and gynecology, culminating in our residents graduating feeling competent in general OB-GYN.  As the only tertiary care center in the state of West Virginia, residents care for women of all ages, races, and background from across the entire state and surrounding region.  With no subspecialty fellowships, our residents gain unchallenged access to all patient care opportunities and gain more experience in Maternal Fetal Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology, Pelvic Floor and Reconstructive Surgery, and Gynecologic Oncology.  Additionally, we have faculty with interest and expertise in minimally invasive gynecology, pediatric and adolescent gynecology, menopause and sexual medicine, and complex family planning. 

We provide a complete educational experience in all aspects of clinical, surgical, and professional development aspects.  The educational curriculum is a based on the CREOG Educational Objectives and is delivered in a multitude of ways to enhance all type of learning styles.  This includes in-person didactic lectures, Grand Rounds, M&M conferences, journal club, rotation specific reading curriculum, face-to-face discussions with faculty, and simulation training.

Training Sites

Ruby Memorial Hospital and WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital, both of which are located on the WVU Medicine campus, are our primary training sites.  Ruby Memorial is the largest hospital in the WVU Medicine system, providing the most advanced level of care to the citizens of West Virginia and surrounding areas.  WVU Children’s, which opened in September 2022, provides the state of West Virginia with the highest quality, and state of the art maternity and pediatric care. 

In addition to Ruby Memorial the WVU Medicine system includes these additional patient-care facilities:

  • Cheat Lake Physician Office
  • University Town Centre
  • Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center
  • Center for Reproductive Medicine
  • United Hospital Center (Bridgeport, WV)

Educational Curriculum Aspects

Complex Family Planning

ACGME and ABOG requires education and training in the area of complex family planning.  Residents are not forced to perform any procedures they are uncomfortable with and can opt out of performing any abortion procedures.  The residency program has a didactic curriculum that teaching all aspects of family planning from contraception to abortion care so that residents are exposed to the educational content on which they will be tested on by ABOG.  The residency program and Office of Graduate Medical Education is committed to finding rotations and practical experience in the area of family planning and abortion if the resident desires such training.  Given the current state laws in West Virginia, this would be an experience at another location. 

Formal Reading Program

Every service has clear and detailed goals and objectives associated with it.  Many of the rotations have a structured weekly reading curriculum.  We are actively working on updating all the rotations to have structured reading curriculums for residents to complete each month.  Residents are expected to follow this reading curriculum and, additionally, read about the patients and/or cases they see during the rotation. 

Midwife Training

Our Department is fortunate to have a midwifery service for low risk pregnancy and deliveries.  Our residents have the opportunity to work closely with our midwives in the clinic and on labor and delivery to gain knowledge and experience with low risk pregnancy.  We feel that seeing a different aspect to pregnancy care and delivery is vital to developing high quality obstetrician gynecologists. 

Additional Education Resources

Our program has purchased the TRUE-LEARN PROGRAM as an electronic resource for providing resident learners with a resource for remedial work, CREOG (in-service examination) questions with mock tests, and ABOG written board preparation. 

Global Health Track

The West Virginia University Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences is committed to providing essential skills and training for our residents who are interested in working in low-resource communities locally or abroad. In pursuit of our mission to improve and increase access to healthcare for women in underserved areas, we have collaborated with the WVU Department of Internal Medicine to develop a robust Global Health Track. Residents in this track participate in a longitudinal monthly lecture series throughout the course of their training; take part in the WVU Tropical Medicine Course, which includes online modules and a hands-on parasitology module. 

Additionally, residents participate in a research and quality improvement project at their designated international site. Our current International locations are Guatemala, Ghana, Zambia, India, and Nepal.

By providing service and participating in research in low- and middle-income countries, WVU OB-GYN residents in the Global Health Track gain cultural awareness, understanding of the unique challenges to providing medical care in these settings, and insight into ways in which we can partner with colleagues in other countries that will augment their residency training and serve them well throughout their careers.

Krista Pfaendler, MD, MPH is our Global Health Track Director. She has extensive experience in global health service, physician training, and research. She is committed to fostering collaboration between WVU and countries abroad in education, service, research, and sharing the lessons learned in each location.

Educational Forums

Every week on Thursdays from 1:00 -5:00pm, Resident Lectures

Residents have a 4-hour block of protected didactic and educational time. During this protected academic time, residents are not responsible for patient care coverage.  Residents may receive lectures, participate in simulation activities, or have resident-led teaching opportunities as part of their educational time. Lectures are given to the residents by board certified physicians within the Department or from an outside Department. Nationally recognized experts are also brought in to contribute to the residents’ education.

Grand Rounds

Department Grand Rounds are held weekly and encompass a wide variety of topics relevant to our specialty, medicine, and professional development.  Speakers come from WVU and from around the country. 

Journal Clubs

Journal Club is held monthly. One resident presents each month and is paired with a faculty mentor. Each resident is then guided through the process of rigorously reviewing and critiquing the article from a scientific standpoint. The goal of journal club is to review potentially practice changing research and for each resident to learn the process of critically evaluating the scientific literature.

Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) Conference

M&M conferences are held quarterly for both the obstetrics and gynecology services.  The purpose of M&M conference is to provide a safe venue for residents and staff to identify areas of improvement, and promote professionalism, ethical integrity and transparency in assessing and improving care.  The M&M conference also provides a climate of openness and discussion about medical errors in a ‘no-fault’ environment.  Two patient cases are selected and presented along with a learning discussion, points to considers, and area(s) for improvement.  

Simulation

Sims Center– WV STEPS

Residents have 24/7 access to the Simulation Training and Education for Patient Safety (STEPS) Center at the WVU Health Sciences Center.  This state-of-the-art simulation center delivers innovative inter-professional healthcare training and simulation for all residents.  Residents are able to enhance their learning in safe, protected environment to improve their analytical, diagnostic, communication, and crisis-intervention skills.  Our variety of patient simulators are capable of creating almost any type of obstetrical, gynecologic, or surgical simulation environment.  Residents are able to practice laparoscopic and robotic training at any time of the day or night.  There is time specifically dedicated into the academic curriculum for laparoscopic and robotic simulation practice.  Additionally, the STEPS Center is the only site in West Virginia approved by SAGES as an FLS (Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery) Testing Center. 

Examples of recent simulations include:  operative vaginal delivery, breech delivery, slings, post-partum hemorrhage, LEEP, manual vacuum aspiration, shoulder dystocia, and ultrasonography. 

In addition to the multiple state-of-the-art DaVinci Surgical Dual Console Robots that West Virginia University Hospitals currently uses in our operating rooms, we are also very fortunate to have the Mimick Training Simulator for the specific purpose of allowing residents to train for this method of minimally invasive surgery. Once residents complete the required training curriculum, they can sit at the console and participate in live surgery with the attending surgeon.  Our residents receive extensive robotic experience during training, which allows them to be credentialed in robotic surgery upon graduation, and therefor be able to offer robotic surgery to patients in their future practice.