INTRODUCTION
A general overview of the residency program is provided, followed by specific
educational goals and objectives.
Saint Vincent Hospital at Worcester Medical Center is a 348 bed state of the art tertiary
care community teaching hospital. The hospital has independent residency training
programs in internal medicine, podiatry, cardiology, and diagnostic radiology. In addition,
residents rotate from the University of Massachusetts in general surgery, family practice,
and Emergency Medicine. Medical student teaching is an integral component of the
Department. There is a formal radiology elective for University of Massachusetts
medical students and Saint Vincent Hospital Interns. The goal of the diagnostic
radiology program is to provide an outstanding educational environment in which the
residents are active participants in patient care.
The diagnostic radiology program currently consists of nine residents, 12 full-time
equilvent Faculty, and no fellows. The core institution is a new state of the art facility with
all modalities PACS integrated (with the exception of mammography) and voice
recognition technology. Ideal for patient care and resident education is the nearly
instantaneous electronic access to all imaging studies performed in the institution
including all comparison exams and written reports. The Attending Radiologists
represent a broad spectrum of subspecialty expertise and work one-on-one with the
residents. There is a diverse array of pathology seen in the 125,000 imaging studies
performed each year. Residents are active participants in patient care. Exams initially
evaluated by a resident, are reviewed with an attending radiologist prior to a final
dictation being issued. This small group, high volume, high tech department provides the
residents with a combination of hands on experience and ability to work directly with
attending radiologists in clinical and didactic settings. There is a robust conference
schedule providing a formal educational foundation to the resident training experience.
The resident schedule is divided into rotations and conferences. As a general rule,
resident rotations are by modality (for example nuclear medicine, ultrasound, CT). The
didactic schedule is organized primarily by system (for example chest, musculoskeletal,
neuro etc). There are two conferences per day (12-1 p.m. and 4-5 p.m.) as well as
morning interdisciplinary and physics conference times. The conference portions of the
day are protected time for residents during which they are relieved of all clinical
responsibilities
Each attending responsible for their subspecialty provides a year-long conference
series (combination of lectures, case base conferences, journal club, teaching file
conferences, and mock board review sessions). The conference schedule is made
monthly by the Program Director. Each attending is assigned an average of 2-4
conferences per month. This didactic schedule provides the opportunity for all attendings
to interact with all residents every month regardless of the resident’s assigned rotation.
Formal quarterly evaluations are completed by all teaching attendings. The electronic
evaluation system provides immediate feedback to the residents. There are additional
weekly interdisciplinary and subspecialty conferences. The residents also routinely
attend outside educational conferences offered by the New England Roentgen Ray
Society and Grand Rounds at the University of Massachusetts. Resident scholarly
activity has led to 4 presentations at national meeting in the past 2 years (representing
50% of the residents).
The clinical rotations allow the residents to obtain extensive exposure to all facets of
diagnostic radiology with graded levels of responsibility. The first month of residency is
introductory to each section and subspecialty. In the five months prior to beginning call
the residents rotate through a series of fluoroscopy, plain film, CT, and emergency room
rotations. A majority of the PGY-2 year is spent in radiographics (fluoroscopy, and plain
films), Emergency Room, and CT rotations. The resident is then exposed to additional
subspecialty rotations during the PGY-3 year. In the PGY-4 year, three months of
pediatric radiology training is obtained at Boston Children’s Hospital and the resident
attends the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) course in Washington, DC. In the
PGY-5 year the resident completes all subspecialty rotations.
In addition to clinical rotations and formal didactics, the residents are also assigned
committee responsibilities. They are relieved of clinical duties for their committee
assignments, which are considered an integral part of their education in the core
competencies of practice-based learning and improvement and system based practice.
These assignments include the Performance Improvement Committee (PGY-2
residents), Graduate Medical Education Committee (PGY-3 residents), and Radiology
Medical Education Committee (PGY-5 residents).
Resident post-graduate positions highlight the success of the training program. Over
the past five years, nine residents have pursued Fellowship Training and one to private
practice. The nine fellowship positions include: two Body Imaging positions, one at
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island and one at University Of Texas in San
Antonio, one in Pediatric Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts; four in Interventional Radiology two at Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island, one at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and one at
Loma Linda University in California; and, two in MRI, one at CMMIC, Worcester,
Massachusetts and one at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California.
Revised 6/15/06