VCU Department of Surgery

The library support for the surgery training program is the Tompkins-McCaw Library (TML), the largest health science library in the Commonwealth of Virginia , located on campus. The facility supports the programs of the Medical, Dental, Nursing and Pharmacy Schools; the School of Allied Health Sciences , the affiliated hospitals, and VCUHS faculty, staff and students. The TML is open approximately 100 hours per week with reference librarians on duty. Residents can access the library Web and online resources/publications 24 hours/day seven days a week through on-line access.

The TML collection is comprised of approximately 323,000 volumes, 3671 medical and health related journals and documents. The TML offers computer assisted literature searching in a variety of formats, MEDLINE, and other National Library and Medicine databases are available to all VCUHS affiliates through Internet connections. SilverPlatter CD-ROMS, CINAIIL, Bioethics, GPO, Health Plan, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Science Citation Indexes, and others are available on CD’s. The on-line catalog provides access to library collections, Current Contents and 10 of the H. W Wilson Indexes. Internet access is available through the TML, and multiple other locations throughout VCUHS. Both dedicated and end-user searching is available. Instructions in the use of health sciences literature searching, and evaluation of results is available through the TML.

The VAMC Medical Library is located on the 3 rd floor of the VAMC. The VAMC Medical Library houses approximately 1275 books and 480 journals. A full-time librarian is on duty during official VAMC work-days. Residents have access to the medical library and it is available to them after hours. In addition, a search capability is available through the VAMC from home through Internet access.

The Department of Surgery has a library for residents on the 9th floor of the Hospital. The library is located adjacent to the general surgery patient floor. The library has current surgical journals available to the residents. There are computers with Internet access which allows residents to access the TML library data or MEDLINE or other data bases available. There are general surgery textbooks as well as surgical subspecialty texts and Harrison ’s Internal Medicine text. The library has three computers, printers, and copy machine available for residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A DVD collection of surgical procedures Reality Surgery was recently purchased.

All residents have access to library resources available to them from home 24 hours, seven days a week via the internet. Residents are also encouraged to utilize www.vesalius.com, an online educational tool to assist in the study of anatomy and surgical technique.