Medical Student Foundations of Clinical Care Courses

Students will join a team of attending, fellow and resident physicians on the Interventional Radiology service at Vanderbilt Monroe Carrel Children's Hospital (VCH). Interventional Radiology involves working as a consultant to the physicians who are caring for patients admitted to the hospital as well as performing a multitude of outpatient procedures. Reasons for consultation requests vary, but some of the more common ones include arteriography, CT-guided biopsy of lesions, implantation of infusion devices and external drainage of infectious processes. With each new consultation request, students will have the opportunity to research the patient using StarPanel and then present the case to them during morning rounds. The student will then be able to perform a history and physical on patients as they get prepared for their procedure. The student will then participate in the procedure and provide follow-up care as needed with the supervision of the resident and attending physicians. At the conclusion of the two-week elective rotation, students will be able to understand the role Interventional Radiology plays in the care of both inpatients and outpatients. They will have a basic understanding of the breadth of procedures offered, and the indications, complications and post-procedural care for the most common procedures. Additionally, the students will have familiarity with evidence-based approaches to care. 

Prerequisite: Pediatrics or OBGN clerkship in Block 1

Course Director: Christopher Baron, MD 

Maximum Class Size: 2

The course will provide students with a broad exposure to the various sub-specialties of radiology, tailored to the students’ educational interests, as relevant. The students will learn the basics of maneuvering our institutional PACS system, Sectra, and how to perform basic image manipulation.

The students will spend each day in a different sub-specialty reading room within the department. The students will observe faculty, fellows and residents on the service. For each reading room, there will be a series of ~5 "check-offs," which consist of bits of information that the student should attempt to learn in that reading room (e.g., "What is the appropriate follow-up of an incidentally-discovered pulmonary nodule?"). Students will be given a few short imaging rich case-based learning assignment worksheets at the beginning of the rotation, and one or two short (1-2 hour) sessions will be scheduled into the rotation for group discussion of these cases. If desired, students will be exposed to multidisciplinary conferences in which radiology plays a central role.

Prerequisite: Pediatrics or OBGN clerkship in Block 1

Course Director: Thomas McLaren, MD

Maximum Class Size: 6

Students will spend two weeks in the musculoskeletal/ emergency radiology reading room. It's a bustling place where MSK-subspecialty trained radiology faculty, MSK fellows, and radiology residents interpret musculoskeletal studies and selected studies performed in the Emergency Department, as well as provide consultation services to a variety of physicians (emergency, trauma team, general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, infectious diseases, internal medicine, rheumatology, etc.). Students will be exposed to a broad spectrum of musculoskeletal pathology including trauma, athletic injuries, arthritis, infection, neoplastic conditions, expected post-operative changes, and post-operative complications. Imaging modalities will include conventional radiographs, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Tomography and, possibly, ultrasonography. Students will have the opportunity to observe interventional procedures such as fluoroscopically-guided arthrography and CT/US-guided biopsies. The advantages and limitations of the various modalities utilized will be emphasized. The course will be of particular interest to students contemplating careers in radiology, orthopaedic surgery, sports medicine, and emergency medicine; however, any student interested in learning more about the musculoskeletal system or radiology is encouraged to attend. At the conclusion of the two-week elective rotation, students will be able to accurately describe fractures, have an organized approach to diagnosing arthritis, recognize significant athletic injuries on MRI, have a basic understanding of the concept of aggressiveness of musculoskeletal neoplasms, and have an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the modalities used by radiologists in diagnosing a variety of conditions.

Prerequisite: None

Course Director: Ashish Patel, MD, MBA, MS, RMSK

Maximum Class Size: 2