The goal of all Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist staff is to ensure the health of you and your family. Learn more about Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist's mission, vision and values. 

The mission of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at  Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, as part of that large and expanding academic medical center, is aligned with that of the sponsoring institution and specifically focuses on maintaining a scholarly environment for learners at all levels, contributions to research, investigation, and advancement in these areas. The mission of the residency program in Obstetrics and Gynecology mimics the department mission, with the additional mission of instilling on graduate medical professionals that these processes are life-long endeavors and commitments.

Our Values

Honesty – telling the truth, conforming our words to reality
Integrity – approaching our work with competence, character, and perseverance; conforming reality to our words
Trust – encouraging respect, empowerment, open communication, and loyalty
Personal responsibility – caring for all stakeholders by demonstrating respect and inclusion and honoring commitments as representatives of Wake Forest Baptist Health
Collaboration – working as a team to share resources, risk, responsibility, and recognition
Stewardship – being accountable as individuals and as a group to our colleagues and to the community
Commitment – dedicating ourselves to the mission, objectives, and responsibilities stated herein
Interdependence – honoring the diversity and uniqueness of each individual and their contribution toward the fulfillment of the department’s mission
Synergy – Encouraging and utilizing the contribution of all members of the department toward fulfillment of goals and objectives that excel the achievements of isolated individual efforts

These values form the basis for our interactions with the community we serve. The community served by the residency program can be broadly stated as any patient, family member, care team member, or person who comes in contact with our personnel. Successfully accomplishing service to that community starts with intentional recruitment. Residents are recruited having already heard during their interviews information unique to the population that they will serve during their four year residency in western North Carolina. This information is obtained from public health and welfare data collected and distributed by the county and the state and is verbally and visually presented directly by the residency program director to the applicants. Nearly one-quarter of the local population live without health insurance, and about the same number live at or below the poverty line. Food and transportation deserts exist only blocks from where residents live, and the main resident clinic site for Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and OBGYN was strategically built in an area where paucity in both food and transportation exist. Information from the annual March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card is also presented to interviewing applicants to put obstetrical care in context. While medical students often have global health as an interest and focus, and noble though that thought may be, our residency recruitment emphasizes that residency is about domestic health: how to serve the people in my own local community. Cost effective care and care to marginalized populations is emphasized, as is care in the context of the greater health care system (finite resources, long term sustainability in care models, etc.). Interestingly, faculty self-select (sometimes unknowingly) sites where they practice, allowing residents to work with faculty who have greater knowledge in and commitment to the site that drives their care. While a resident may not actively realize on a daily basis that they are impacting domestic health, upon graduation, it is hoped that each graduate can iterate where their individual efforts may have focused. The mission is that they realize the potential they hold as a physician in their local community.

Beyond patient care for the local community, research and education complete the trifecta for most academic institution missions. For those not inherently wired for traditional research, our program also supports QI projects as scholarly activity, for it is a practical approach to teaching a number of the ACGME competencies. It also aligns wonderfully with the culture of safety present at our sponsoring institution. Finally, the department mission strives to remind its learners and faculty that education reaches far beyond the classroom, and extends to one’s ability to educate teammates, staff, patients, and their families through strong communication. Specific examples are given in the next section.  

We Aim To

Achieve consistent accreditation of the residency program by the ACGME (Accreditation Council For Graduate Medical Education), and maintain all educational and professional standards as set forth by that organization.

  • Residents and faculty are made aware of any ACGME decisions regarding the residents, and participate in creation of responses when indicated.
  • Administration is an active word: residency and fellowship directors and administrators, including the Chair, interact regularly, and an open door policy exists in the Chair’s office, the RPD office, and the GME/DIO office.
  • Administrative Chief Residents serve as liaisons for the residents in creation of policies and procedures to maintain compliance in areas such as duty hours, vacations, call schedules, etc. Similarly, the PEC Resident Committee Members have provided unique and many times innovative solutions to issues raised in the Annual Program Evaluations. We include both an outgoing senior resident and an incoming senior resident on this committee.

Produce graduates who are candidates for and subsequently diplomats of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology or American Osteopathic Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and who strive to maintain that status over their entire professional career.

  • Both written and mock oral examination formats are employed to expose residents to the life-long process of demonstrating their foundation of medical knowledge and judgement.
  • Faculty involvement in their own board certification process and MOC is transparent.
  • Board pass rates of graduates are presented to residents and faculty annually for review.
  • Subspecialty educators in each area are presented with group CREOG exam results to survey and review needs for more directed educational focus in their areas.
  • Life-long learning opportunities are implemented, such as journal clubs, article reviews with questions, etc. Achieving the title of Diplomat of ABOG or receiving primary certification from ABOG is also put in the context of maintaining professional licensure. The Executive Director of the North Carolina Medical Board presented a resident and fellow driven conference on how MOC crosses over with MOL (Maintenance of Licensure.)

Produce and support physicians as they achieve competency in and ability to continue life-long learning in the six designated competencies as specified by the ACGME.

  • Professionalism: Residents must learn to show respect and responsiveness to diverse populations. Most recently the residency has provided support (administratively, financially, and educationally) for care of diverse and marginalized populations, including developmentally delayed/syndromic girls, and the LGBTQ population.
  • Patient Care and Procedural Skills: With the opening of the new Birth Center, residents have served in leadership roles on multidisciplinary teams in development of care protocols, procedural instrumentation and protocols, team education, and QI processes.
  • Medical Knowledge: Once matched, each resident receives the commitment of the program to guide them towards a skill set making them capable of providing unsupervised practice of obstetrics and gynecology. This is taught/tested via: written exams, oral exams, simulations, question banks, didactics, group discussions, journal clubs, etc.
  • Practice-based Learning and Improvement: A formal question bank has been purchased for the first time this year to allow residents access to another tool where they can identify their strengths and weaknesses and set learning goals. Secondly, a formalized curriculum to help residents understand, interpret, and apply applicable literature to their practice is now in place for its second year.
  • Interpersonal and Communication Skills: The institution now offers a program titled PERCC (Program to Enhance Relationship Centered Communication.) This is open to all faculty and residents, and has already been employed by our CCC in addressing individual resident issue in the area of communication.
  • Systems-based Practice: Numerous examples exist. The institution has implemented improved resident access to such systems as RL-6 for adverse event reporting. Another example is resident involvement in Wake Wings, where they serve in interprofessional OR teams to enhance patient safety. Residents are now actively aware of the institution’s implementation of a new and enhanced system for patient financial review and assistance in 2019, and have first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by both the patient and the institution providing care. This effort is clearly focused on our specific community and community resources. The WFBMC iQ Academy is offers a "Safety / Quality" certificate program for all residents, fellows, faculty, and other learners with a goal of achieving advanced knowledge and skills in the areas of patient safety, quality improvement, and leadership. Training occurs in concert with the IHI (Institute for Healthcare Improvement.) Three levels of the program achievement exist (bronze, silver, and gold). All residents participate in activities that achieve the bronze level of certification during onboarding. As we transition towards World II Medicine (value-based care) it is critically important that our providers are well versed in safety and quality principles as they become our future healthcare leaders. An Annual QI Project Day for Residents and Fellows occurs at the institutional level.

All rotations have PGY specific goals and objectives, and each objective is linked to at least one of these six competencies.

Provide an educational experience with tremendous breadth and depth of experience, following guidelines set by CREOG in “Educational Objectives: Core Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology.” (Most current edition, which is the 11th edition.)

  • The department has as a primary goal the drive to produce competent specialists in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Realizing some residents will proceed with further subspecialty training, baseline competency in and understanding of general OBGYN is nonetheless the main focus. A testament to the success of this effort is continual recruitment of our residents into local practices.