Department of Otolaryngology

The Department of Otolaryngology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center/Long Island College Hospital had intensive continuing medical education activities during the academic year of 2006-2007. The mission of our department's activity is to provide formal education, to disseminate new information, to provide a forum for presentation and discussion and to ensure improvements and adjustments based on feedback from attendees. The department's continuing education is based mainly on a weekly conference that takes place at Long Island College Hospital for three hours on Thursday afternoons. All Otolaryngology, Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology professionals as well as professionals in related disciplines are invited. The conference is mandatory for the faculty and residents of our department. Attendance at our weekly conference numbered between 15 and 35 attendees per session, with total attendance of 1000.

The afternoon conference is divided into three parts. Different aspects of basic sciences as related to the field of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery are presented and discussed during the first hour. This includes formal presentations by speakers who are experts in the fields of Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology, Anatomic Pathology, Head and Neck Radiology, and Cell Biology. In-house speakers and faculty as well as resident presentations are given during the second hour. Also, biweekly Head and Neck Tumor Board is held at the second hour. During the third hour, lectures are delivered by invited guest speakers who are nationally known for their expertise and experience in a variety of topics. The list of guest speakers for 2005-2006 is included in this report and in general, all the speakers were knowledgeable and gave excellent lectures with organized information relevant to the practice of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The overall quality of the presentation was superb. Practitioners, as well as residents, use the information which is disseminated during these conferences for their day to day clinical practice. The same lectures are used also as a forum for the audience to ask questions and to discuss difficult cases.

The major strength of this program is the diversity of the topics discussed and their relevance to the clinical practice of all attendees. This Grand Rounds Conference format will continue, with three hours dedicated to a single topic which is explored in depth. There are also plans to increase the number of conferences.