The combined program, in a competitive fashion, accepts two Army and two Navy residents per academic year. From a pool of applicants, the residents are selected at the Graduate Medical Education Selection Boards in December by the Residency Program Director and the Associate Residency Program Director. Applicants must be on active duty military status. Applicants should be completing or must have completed an internship in General Surgery or a transitional internship "weighted" in surgery to be eligible for consideration.

The goal of this residency training program is to train graduates who are competent in all aspects of medical and surgical treatment of otolaryngic diseases. As medical officers, skills will be applied to support the total mission of the Armed Forces of the United States and its allies. During the four years of otolaryngology training, residents will be prepared to pass the certification exam of the American Board of Otolaryngolgy.

The four years of training will include all relevant areas of otolaryngology. This will include the application of basic science, the mastery of clinical and surgical skill, learning to lead and teach peers and subordinates, and learning the fundamentals of research, presentation, and publication in a peer review journal.

Training will focus on the care of otolaryngology outpatients and inpatients. There is direct clinical care in the inpatient and outpatient setting. The outpatient clinical experience includes seeing two and one half days of clinic a week. This clinical experience is augmented by daily triage calls from the Emergency Departments of the National Naval Medical Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dewitt Army Community Hospital, Kimbrough Army Community Hospital, and Malcom Grow Medical Center. In addition the clinic staff engage in telephone consultations with DOD primary care clinics throughout the National Capital Area and out-lying clinics in Central and Northern Virginia, Central and Northern Maryland, Southern Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Weekend and evening consultations include Malcom Grow Medical Center (Andrews Air Force Base). The inpatient clinical experience includes caring for patients in the various medical & surgical wards and intensive care units.

Direct patient care is enhanced with an intensive didactic curriculum. This curriculum includes a one half day of conferences every week. There are Grand Round presentations, Oncology lecture and laboratory practical, Temporal Bone and laboratory practical, and Journal conferences once every month. The resident engages in daily and weekly teaching sessions with attending staff in the form of preoperative and postoperative conferences, reading material review and inpatient rounds.

The resident will train to become a competent and skillful surgeon under the careful auspices of the attending staff surgeons. Residents will learn all pertinent Head and Neck anatomy during their endeavor to master surgical skill. The resident will participate in a wide range of surgical cases. Surgical training will include General Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Neurotology, Pediatric Otolaryngology, Laryngology, Rhinology, and Facial Plastic Surgery.

The Otolaryngology department participates in multi-disciplinary conferences with the Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Dental, Pathology, Pulmonary and Social Work Departments. In addition, there are combined clinics with the Departments of Otolaryngology, Pediatrics, and Speech and Language Pathology.

Teaching the art and medicine of Otolaryngology to medical students, interns, and primary care residents is an important part of the clinical experience. The department of Otolaryngology facilitates medical student education with didactic lectures at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS). Twice a year USUHS medical students come to the clinics to learn the subtleties of a head and neck examination. The otolaryngology staff participate in anatomical dissections with the students as well. In the clinic the staff actively teach interns and primary care residents the nuances of otolaryngic examination, diagnosis, and treatment.

Our institutions are heavily involved in academic research. The goals of the research experience are to educate residents in the principles of basic scientific and clinical research to include study design, performance, analysis, and reporting, Also, the program seeks to develop the necessary skills to critically evaluate the validity and scientific merit of published studies. The intended outcome of this experience is to generate clinically, significant publications which contribute to the current fund of medical knowledge and to provide a structured research training experience which will serve as a foundation for the pursuit of independent research during fellowship or during an academic career.

The National Capital Consortium Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Program is a well rounded surgical residency committed to providing world class medical care while training excellent military Otolaryngologists. Since our inception, 100% of board eligible trainees have passed the American Board or Otolaryngology certifying exams on their first attempt.

With the dawn of a new millennium, we plan to continue to prepare Otolaryngologists to "Conserve the Fighting Strength."