Clinical Rotations
The American Board of Radiology requires nine months of clinical medicine
as part of the certification process. At other programs, radiology
house officers are required to complete a separate internship year.
However, at UNM we have an innovative and totally unique approach
to the clinical year requirement. The majority of the clinical
experience is in the third through the fifth years of residency and
is tailored to the individual resident. Radiology residents
spend a required month in the emergency department during their first
year and a month each in obstetrics, vascular surgery, and cardiology
during their third year. Five additional months are spent on
elective rotations, primarily in the fourth and fifth years.
This allows the resident to self-select clinical rotations in order
to develop competence in the subspecialty area that he or she wishes
to pursue in radiology.
Current clinical rotations include:
- Emergency Medicine - Soon after
arrival, first year radiology residents spend a month working side-by-side
with interns from other departments in the emergency department.
Residents are supervised directly by the emergency department attending
physicians and gain experience with clinical management of emergency
and trauma room patients at UNMH. This experience and the
relationships that are created with emergency department staff prove
to be helpful when residents begin taking overnight call at UNMH
during their second year.
- Vascular Surgery - As one of
the required rotations during the third year of residency, this
popular rotation has also been revisited as an elective rotation
by many residents. Radiology residents are assigned to the
UNMH Vascular Lab, where they are supervised by attending vascular
surgeons and work closely with the vascular technologists.
Residents gain experience with the clinical management of vascular
disease and learn the techniques of non-invasive imaging of the
vascular system, including Doppler ultrasound and plethysmography.
- Obstetrics - The second required
rotation during the third year of residency exposes residents to
the clinical management of obstetric patients and fetal imaging.
Radiology residents are supervised by attending physicians from
the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and work closely with
the fetal sonographers at UNMH. Residents are invited to participate
in daily rounds with the obstetrics service, attend meetings between
genetic counselors and patients, participate in high-risk obstetric
patient assessments, and observe real-time general fetal ultrasound
examinations.
- Cardiology - The third required
rotation of the third year of residency occurs at both UNMH and
the VA medical center. Radiology residents work closely with
attending cardiologists, fellows, residents, and technologists.
Residents attend twice weekly cardiology conferences that include
topics such as EKG interpretation, nuclear medicine myocardial perfusion
imaging, cardiac angiography, and echocardiography. Residents
have a flexible schedule, where they can gain firsthand experience
in echocardiography, exercise stress tests, diagnostic cardiac
catheterization, and interventional procedures such as angioplasty
and stent placement, which will be particularly valuable in their
future careers as radiologists.
- Internal medicine - As a popular
elective rotation for fourth and fifth year residents, radiologists
become members of the internal medicine inpatient clinical services,
where they attend daily rounds with the ward or intensive care unit
teams. This rotation is a mutually beneficial experience for
both parties, as the radiologists gain insight into patient management
issues and can act as consultants for the clinicians in recommending
appropriate radiologic imaging examinations.
Additional clinical electives can be
created at the request of the radiology resident.
