Our curriculum is designed to help our trainees become confident and successful board certified vascular surgeons. We’re proud of our 100% board success rate and believe in investing into each fellow and their future. Wellness is a huge part of our curriculum, as well as time and support for research and QI projects. Between the rotations at the VA and our home base, LLUMC, our fellows will experience a vast array of cases, Rutherford, Resident and Didactic Conferences, as well as M&Ms and Grand Rounds; all vital pieces of their training.
Curriculum Highlights
Fellow Rotations
| Fellowship Year | July - December | January - June |
|---|---|---|
| F-1 | LLVA | LLUMC |
| F-2 | LLUMC | LLVA |
Vascular Fellow Resources
- Vascular Library in Admin Office at LLUH
- Vascular Online Library
Monthly Lunches with Program Director & Fellows
We try to carve out time each month for our Program Director and fellows to enjoy lunch together. This is a great time for fellows to get to know their PD outside of the formal or clinical setting & enjoy food together.
Semi-Annual Reviews with Program Director
Formal reviews happen twice a year with each fellow & the Program Director to evaluate the fellow’s progress in our program so far, etc.
Fluid On-going Feedback
We strive to create an environment that feeds on constant & healthy feedback for fellows & faculty, as we believe that this feedback is crucial to constant growth, learning & success. Fellows are urged to ask questions, conversate with attendings after cases, discuss options, and be open to constructive feedback on an on-going basis as we work together as a team.
Mandatory Weekly Conferences
- Mondays (during COVID times this is combined case conference 7-8 am via ZOOM):
- Case Conference:
- Expectations: fellows and senior residents will present cases for each institution, Start with showing the weekly calendar followed by a brief presentation of the case and what the surgical plan will be. Senior residents are expected to present access cases and/or cases they will be scrubbing into. Make sure to have the imaging platforms (Impax) and relevant images ready to show. Having this information readily available will expedite flow throughout all the cases.
- Case Conference:
- Tuesdays (VA Only):
- PAVE Conference (Vascular Surgery joint with Podiatry, Medicine (sometimes) and Infectious Disease pharmacist.
- Expectations: podiatry residents and junior resident on vascular surgery will rotate and give a 15 minute evidence based presentation. This is followed by patient presentations of all in-house PAVE patients (it is the Fellows responsibility to ensure all PACE patients are presented) and lastly PAVE rounds where the group will see all PAVE patients. PAVE limb salvage notes are done by PAVE NP. The Fellow will be asked to interpret any imaging relevant to the patient’s imaging/interventions.
- PAVE Conference (Vascular Surgery joint with Podiatry, Medicine (sometimes) and Infectious Disease pharmacist.
- Wednesdays:
- VSCORE Conference:
- Expectations: The VSCORE Conference (currently held via zoom) requires that both fellows follow the TWIS curriculum, complete weekly topics, related quizzes, and come together with the division to discuss the material.
- Resident Conference:
- Expectations: This conference is a rotation conference and will rotate between Mock orals, resident talks (assigned, evidence based presentations), journal club, and the “How I Do It” presentations. These require making a PowerPoint presentation and speaking in front of the group, examples can be provided upon request. Mock oral topics are selected based on topics expected to be known for General surgery Oral boards (for General Surgery residents) and the Vascular Surgery Oral Boards (for Vascular Surgery fellows).
- VSCORE Conference:
- Thursdays:
- Didactic Conference (joint with IR):
- Expectations: Alternates between Nephrology case conference, Interesting case conference, and didactic lectures given by faculty. For Nephrology case conference the VA senior resident, IR fellows and LLUMC fellow will present nephrology cases. For Interesting case conference the LLUMC fellow, VA fellow and IR fellows will present cases.
- Didactic Conference (joint with IR):
Mandatory Monthly Conferences
- M&M:
- Expectations: This happens once a month. The fellow is expected to keep a running list of all morbidities and mortalities. (required forms provided from the department) Once a month Vascular surgery will present at General Surgery MM conference.
- Aortic Aneurysm Conference (joint with CT Surgery):
- Expectations: For this conference CT surgery and Vascular surgery will present (no slides required) a case for the groups discussion.
- CVQI Conference (joint with CT Surgery):
- Expectations: Alternates with Aortic conference. QI nurses/team will present outcomes, and identify any issues needing to be addressed.
- Grand Rounds (may not be monthly)
Weekly Tech Sessions (LLU)
Not mandatory, but a great learning opportunity for both fellows & our rotating residents to get hands on with simulators relevant to vascular surgery. We encourage the VA fellow to join in when possible.