The First Three Days in Surgery (F3DS) was created and first conducted by the lab in 1998 to give incoming Surgical residents a basic introduction to the skills they will need during the first weeks of their residency. The residents arrive at the hospital a week before their residency begins (July 1). They spend one day in training sessions, then have two days of ACLS certification, 2 days of ATLS certification, and return to the lab setting for two additional days of training. The program was originally based on the First Three Days in Anesthesia (F3DA), which was also created in the lab. The F3DA has been conducted since 1993, and has been duplicated at a number of other residency programs throughout the world.

One of the main topics is the training sessions which are run each day on the Human Patient Simulator. The simulator demonstrates dangerous or life threatening conditions that will likely be encountered by the new residents. The sessions also include practicing codes before and after ACLS and ATLS certification.

Nursing simulated calls allow residents to practice taking calls from nurses on a wide variety of patients. The residents get pages while in a lecture. They must then answer questions about the patients, such as whether a patient can be disconnected from the monitors while they go for an x-ray. The residents then decide what information they need about the patient's condition in order to make the decision.

The residents also get a brief introduction to floor skills and techniques, such as inserting a central venous pressure catheter, being introduced to minimally invasive surgical techniques, identifying and correctly using surgical instruments, or getting lab results from the computer system.

Another important part of the training is team building. Several sessions are held to encourage the group to work together as well as work with other groups (nurses, attendings and residents from other departments, support staff, etc).