The curriculum has been revamped to accommodate to the new Boards and the re-structured 4th year. Rotations continue to be four weeks in length, so that 52 such blocks occur during the four-year program.

The first 36 months (39 rotations) of the Program have been redesigned to fully prepare the resident for all of the organ systems and modalities the resident will be required to know for the new Core Board Examination at the conclusion of that time period.

The fourth year has been restructured to allow, after consultation with the Program Director, more advanced subspecialization while also providing time for further training in the more advanced areas of radiology.

Assignments in a particular subspecialty, such as GI radiology, are spaced as evenly throughout the first three years of the training program as possible so as to provide the resident with an opportunity for graded responsibility from junior to more senior years.

There are no fellows in the Program so residents achieve a high level of responsibility in each rotation and will easily find their niche in the more subspecialized portions of the senior year.

 

First Year

The primary objective of the first three years is for the resident to accumulate data and acquire facts; that is, these years are critical for the resident to read, listen, experience, and gather as much information as possible. The Program’s goal is to put the resident in the best position to successfully complete the new Core Board examination at the end of 36 months of training..

The Orientation Program is integrated into the first six rotations. It is designed to introduce the residents to the fundamentals of radiology through didactic presentations, lectures and conferences given by the faculty who focus on the entities the resident is most likely to see. At the same time, the residents rotate through six fundamental areas of radiology: emergency radiology, body CT imaging, neuroradiology, critical care radiology, abdominal radiology (GI/GU) and ultrasound. Every first-year resident will have had four weeks experience in each of these areas by the end of the sixth month of training.

The Department’s philosophy throughout the residency is that the resident learns best through supervised performance of a particular study. Besides introducing the fundamentals of radiology, one of the main objectives of these early months is to prepare the resident for trauma/critical care radiology.

The remainder of the first year is occupied by repeat rotations through abdominal radiology, body CT, critical care radiology and ultrasound as well as rotations through MRI and nuclear medicine.

First-year residents take no overnight, in-house call. They do have “buddy-call” with a more senior resident.

 

Second Year

During this year, the resident spends 12 weeks in angio/interventional radiology, and returns for an additional rotation in nuclear medicine.

In nuclear medicine, the resident participates in all aspects of the clinical and laboratory aspects of the specialty.

Daily review sessions of general nuclear imaging studies are augmented by combined review sessions with the cardiologists for nuclear cardiology, and with the diagnostic radiologists for bone scans. The resident also participates in the evaluation of all thyroid patients.

The resident also receives additional training in abdominal radiology (GI/GU), body imaging, emergency radiology, ultrasound and MRI.

Training in pediatric radiology usually takes place this year with 12-weeks of rotations at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. At St. Christopher’s, our residents function in the same capacity as they do at Einstein. That is, they are responsible for the performance and interpretation of the pediatric procedures under the guidance of the full-time, Board-certified pediatric radiologists there. Much of the dictation is done by the resident with staff supervision.

Overnight, in-house call begins in the second year. We use a week-long, night-float system. The call frequency and duty hours comply with all ACGME duty-hourstandards.

 

Third Year

The resident spends most of this year returning to, and refining skills in, many of the earlier rotations, bringing to these rotations additional responsibility and increased experience. The resident rotates through abdominal radiology, ultrasound, musculoskeletal radiology, critical care, and continues with MRI (body and musculoskeletal).

In addition, the resident spends three assigned rotations of concentrated training in mammography during this year and the fourth year. These three rotations supplement the 50-60 hours of clinical mammography conferences all residents receive throughout the Program and allow the graduating resident to be MQSA certified.

The residents obtain their training in cardiac radiology from several different sources. The residents receive 52 hours of lectures and conference on congenital and adult cardiac disease during the course of the program at the Medical Center. These conferences include cardiac anatomy, physiology and pathology including cardiac MRI. These 52 hours of conference are augmented by additional conferences, which include pediatric angiographic studies, given by the staff at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Further, the residents see congenital cardiac lesions on their three-month rotation at St. Christopher’s where they are also exposed to cardiac MRI. Adult nuclear cardiology is enhanced by the presence of a cardiologist who, along with the radiologist, helps the resident with the clinical aspects of nuclear interpretation.

Residents currently attend the four-week Radiologic-Pathology Course at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology during this year, subsidized by the Department.

Call will be adjusted in the third year to allow the resident ample opportunity to study for the Core Examination at the conclusion of this year.

 

Fourth Year

The fourth-year curriculum has been re-structured to reflect the changes instituted by the American Board of Radiology.

The fourth year allows for greater individual freedom and increased time for subspecialization while providing some time to refine diagnostic skills. Senior residents serve as true consultants and active educators. We are committed, as always, to see that our residents continue to receive superb training in a way that prepares them best for their fellowship, Boards and a future staff position.

We expect that residents will be able to obtain up to six months of subspecialty training during this year, arranged by them and the Program, to supplement and enhance their previous training.

At the discretion of the Program Director, assignments may be made to certain areas in which the resident may benefit from enhancement of their clinical proficiency.

During the 4th year, residents may also receive additional focused training in ultrasound, interventional procedures, nuclear medicine, body CT and mammography.

Fourth-year residents are able to participate in the call schedule either from home, as back-up to one of the more junior residents in-house on-call, or in the hospital.