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Interventional Radiology Residency: Curriculum

Overview

PGY-2 through PGY-4 will follow the Diagnostic Radiology Curriculum PGY-2 through PGY-4.

The primary emphasis for resident education is on-the-job teaching at the PACS workstation during sub-specialty rotations. The majority of these rotations take place at University of Utah settings, both at the main hospital and integrated clinical settings including the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Clinical Neurosciences Center and The Orthopedic Center. In addition, training occurs at Primary Children's Hospital and the Salt Lake City Veteran's Administration hospital. A core curriculum provides comprehensive coverage of important topics for resident training. This lecture/seminar schedule is on a two-year repeating basis.

Content-rich conferences take place on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, during which residents are excused from clinical responsibility. These conferences emphasize the diagnosis and management of diseases, with tailoring toward preparation for the ABR Core Examination that is taken in June of the PGY-4 year. Daily Noon conferences prepares residents for practice, with sub-specialty based interactive case conferences and non-interpretive skills training and assessment. With an emphasis on learning to teach in this training program, residents are involved in giving the noon conference on many of their clinical rotations, including Ultrasound, Body, Pediatrics, IR and Mammography.

Every resident attends the American Institute for Radiologic Pathology during the PGY-4 year; tuition and a travel stipend are provided. A Physics course is offered every spring and is integrated into case-conferences, lectures and rotations. Interactive educational websites and software including StatDx® and RadPrimer® are available for independent learning. An individual educational fund is provided for each resident for books and electronic educational materials. Residents are provided a travel stipend for meetings to support the presentation of scholarly activity.
 

PGY-5 through PGY-6

Rotations at the University of Utah Medical Center, George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center, the Huntsman Cancer Center, and Primary Children’s Hospital. We allot time for research and rotations with pediatric interventional radiology, neurosurgery/interventional radiology, and vascular ultrasound. Each site provides unique patient populations and patient care challenges. Given the location of the University of Utah, the program sees patients from the entire Intermountain West, with referrals from over 5 states. The tertiary environment in a truly rural region of the country provides case complexity and ubiquity not seen in many other programs.

The Huntsman Cancer Center is one of 45 Comprehensive NCI-designated cancer centers in the country. Thousands of cancer patients are treated at the Institute annually, with trans-arterial chemoembolization, yttrium-90, and ablations being performed daily.

As a level I trauma center and major transplant center, the University of Utah provides fellows opportunities to manage trauma patients, post-partum bleeding, GI bleeding, and post-operative complications. The University of Utah is also an HHT center of excellence, one of twenty-four in the country, providing fellows the opportunity to participate in the treatment of this complex disease.

The Veterans Administration provides Fellows with exposure to non-invasive imaging; including ABI, CTA, and arterial Doppler. Liver directed therapy, arterial interventions, and venous interventions are also performed.

Clinical Work

The PGY-5 and PGY-6 years provide strong clinical exposure to patient management in interventional radiology. Interventional radiology has had admission privileges at the University of Utah for years.  Residents help with patient admissions and post-operative care. The service has three physician assistants that aid in clinical care.

Attendings have one day per week dedicated to an IR outpatient clinic. IR clinic time is in the cancer center. Residents attend clinic weekly and are involved in treatment decisions and follow up.

Residents attend various treatment planning conferences; which include vascular conference, cancer specific treatment planning groups, and vascular malformation conference. In addition, our residents are is expected to participate in daily IR rounds conference; weekly didactics, book club, and journal conference; as well as monthly M&M conferences.

Clinical work includes:

Transplant/Portal Hypertension

  • Liver arterial interventions
  • Biliary interventions
  • Renal transplant
  • Pancreas transplant
  • Portal venous interventions

Arterial

  • Trauma
  • GI bleed
  • Bronchial embolization
  • Post-partum bleeding
  • Iliac and peripheral interventions

Venous

  • Venous access
  • EVLT
  • DVT lysis
  • Venous stenting
  • Dialysis

Vascular Malformations

 

Interventional Oncology

  • TACE
  • Y90 (Therasphere and Sirtex)
  • Ablation
    • Liver
    • Kidney
    • Lung
    • Soft tissue
  • Biopsies
  • Pain management

Women’s Health

  • Tubal recanalization
  • UFE
  • Pelvic congestion syndrome

Drainage

  • Biliary
  • Genitourinary
  • Abscess

Mission Statement and Aims

Mission Statement

IR Interventional Radiology – Integrated Residency program’s mission is to provide diverse training particularly formulated for the development of clinical and academic leaders in Interventional Radiology. Train the future generation of Interventional Radiologists to provide excellent patient centered and compassionate care without compromise. Graduate healthcare professionals that become educators and leaders in academics or private practice within interventional radiology. Offer trainees tools to maximize resilience and wellness throughout their career.

Program Aims

Teach core values of compassion, collaboration, innovation, responsibility, diversity, integrity, and quality. Graduate the next generation of clinical, academic and research interventional radiology leaders who practice in diverse academic or private settings. Provide high quality technical training to future interventional radiologist including a diverse array of procedures so that upon graduation there will be no gaps in their technical skills. Cultivate clinically oriented Interventional Radiologists with expertise in outpatient clinic, inpatient consultations, admissions, critical care, pre and post procedure management. Promote an academic environment of well-being, excellence, leadership, respect, and collaboration both intra- and extra- departmental.

Rotation Schedule - Example

IR residency rotation example2022

Policies, Requirements, and Agreements

    The Graduate Medical Education (GME) policies apply to all residents and fellows at the University of Utah. 

    Applicants are specifically encouraged to review the following GME policies:

    The Diagnostic Radiology policies are maintained on a secured internal website. All current residents and faculty have access to these policies at all times. The selected policies listed below may be of particular interest to applicants:

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