Fellowship rotation schedule

The first year of the fellowship program is divided into one-month blocks. For each block, the fellow rotates at either Medical City Plano, Medical City Dallas (including the Heart and Spine Hospital). In the second year of fellowship, each fellow spends a 3-month rotation at Medical City Denton in a high-volume vascular surgery setting. Call is shared evenly between the 4 fellows throughout the fellowship program.

Research

The TCU-HCA Vascular Surgery Fellowship Program is predominantly clinical in nature. An expectation of clinical research productivity with publication of papers is encouraged, and HCA has a strong GME research component that can help with these projects. Faculty will serve as mentors for fellows who are interested in completing research projects.

Conference Schedules

Fellows are required to attend all conferences and be prepared to not only present but also discuss articles and cases. The only exception is when the fellow is out of town. This requires preparation before each meeting. As each fellow progresses through the training program, more will be expected out of them in terms of rationale for surgical and non-surgical management of vascular conditions as well as discussion of different points of view based on SVS guidelines and data.

Departmental Conferences

Morbidity and Mortality Conference

The second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 AM. One fellow will be assigned to present all the notable complications with discussion of the complication and analysis of the root cause. The conference will be summarized by the Program Director and emailed to each participant in the conference.

Grand Rounds

Quarterly, grand rounds will be set up by the faculty. All the fellows are required to attend. The format includes lectures, case presentations, and visiting professors. The emphasis of grand rounds will be to present not only cutting-edge topics in vascular surgery, but also expose the fellows and faculty on the advances and future horizons in vascular medicine and management.

Stanleys Textbook of Vascular Surgery Conference (Therapy in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery)

This conference is held every second Wednesday, immediately following the M&M conference. The fellows are expected to summarize two chapters prior to the conference in written format and will be required to email the summary to all participants prior to the conference. The fellow will lead the Stanley presentation and discussion of the topics at hand. It is expected that the fellows will develop the schedule for the chapters to present amongst themselves for the entire year.

Vascular Pre-op Conference

Preoperative conference will be held the first and third Wednesday of each month. Fellows are expected to present challenging preoperative situations where input from other fellows and faculty is encouraged to promote best patient outcome. Follow-up of these presented cases after the surgery will also be discussed to close the loop on the outcomes after preoperative discussion.

VQI Conference/Journal Club

This is a monthly meeting at 6 pm on the first Monday of each month. The fellows are expected to present JVS or other articles that are picked by the program director, as well as any of the faculty. Copies of the articles will be emailed to the attendants prior to the conference. In addition, a topic from VQI will be discussed, either from other journal articles, or examination of our own and regional data from VQI.

Vascular Lab

Fellows will spend time in the office vascular lab in order to prepare trainees for the Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation Exam (RPVI) which is required to eventually receive American Board of Surgery certification in Vascular surgery. The training consists of a curriculum of core vascular lab topics, the Pegasus course for vascular physics, as well as interesting and current cases using vascular ultrasound. At the conclusion of the program, each fellow will be able to successfully take and pass the RPVI examination. A textbook (Introduction to Vascular Ultrasonography currently) is provided to each fellow.