Curriculum

Outlined is a typical three-year curriculum. Individual programs will vary, especially during the third year, according to the fellows' interests.

First Year		Length
GI Hospital and Procedures		5, one-month blocks
Liver Clinic and Hospital Service		3, one-month blocks
Outpatient Procedures		3, one-month blocks (half-days)
Outpatient GI Clinic		1 month (half-days)
Research		2 months (half-days)
Second Year		Length
Research		8 months (half-days)
Pathology rotation		1 month (half-days)
Radiology rotation		1 month (half-days)
Nutrition rotation		1 month (half-days)
GI Hospital Supervise		2 months
Liver Clinic and Hospital Service		1 month
Anorectal Disease		Two weeks
Motility Clinic
	- Elective	1 month
	- Outpatient procedures and Videocapsule endoscopy	2 months (half-days)
Third Year		Length
IBD Clinic		1 month
Esophageal Clinic		1 month
Pelvic Floor Clinic		1 month
EUS		1 month
ERCP		1 month
GI Hospital (supervise)		2, one-month blocks
Liver Hospital and Clinic		1 month
Research		2 months
Electives		2 months

Clinical Training
During your fellowship, you will work closely with faculty providing patient care in ambulatory and inpatient settings. The favorable faculty ratio, large, diverse patient population and state-of-the-art diagnostic, therapeutic and research facilities combine to create an ideal educational setting.

The Mayo Clinic Model of Care incorporates education into daily practice and ensures that you will have the finest teaching and the broadest patient care experience possible during a busy, hands-on fellowship. Your clinical activities are designed primarily for their educational value rather than for service.

The primary training sites are Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale and Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. Liver transplant training takes place on the busy Mayo Clinic transplant service. Elective rotations at Mayo Clinic in Rochester may also be available.

Continuity clinic occurs throughout the three years. Elective options include bleeding team, pediatric gastroenterology, HIV clinic, advanced endoscopic training, additional research time, rotations at Mayo Clinic in Rochester or special programs you design.

Endoscopic Training
Training is provided in:

• Diagnostic and therapeutic upper endoscopy
• Colonoscopy
• Sigmoidoscopy
• Esophageal dilatation
• Liver biopsy
• PEG placement
• Variceal and non-variceal hemostasis

You also will gain experience in advanced techniques like ERCP, endoscopic ultrasound, photodynamic therapy and enteral stent placement.

Special Clinical Training
Dedicated periods are set aside to provide clinical training in important areas of gastroenterology. During the following rotations you will work with a faculty member who has special interest and expertise in the area:

• Motility disorders and motility studies
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Esophageal Clinic
• Hepatobiliary disease
• Clinical nutrition and nutritional support
• GI radiology
• GI pathology
• Liver transplant
• Anorectal disease
• ERCP
• Endoscopic ultrasound

Additional opportunities are available for the development of clinical and research expertise within these areas.

Didactic Training
Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, journal clubs and one-on-one instruction are all an integral part of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program.

Teaching Conferences
We maintain an active schedule of teaching conferences, averaging more than two conferences per week. The goal of these conferences is to help you develop the knowledge and skills necessary to function as an effective consultant in gastroenterology and hepatology in a clinical academic setting. Fellows are primarily responsible for the content of the GI monthly conferences listed below, with the close support of faculty mentors. While the fellows do present at most of these conferences, a variety of other trainees are available to assist the fellows in these presentations, including internal medicine residents, family medicine residents, surgical residents and medical students. Conferences include:

• GI Medical-Surgical Conference
• GI Case Conference
• Hepatology Case Conference
• GI Research Conference
• Journal Club
• Pathophysiology Conference
• Liver Transplant Selection Conference
• Pathology Conference

You also will participate in other system-wide conferences and training programs, such as Medical Grand Rounds and Clinical-Pathologic Conferences.

In addition, Mayo Clinic in Arizona offers a conference series for all residents that will introduces you to some of the ethical, legal and personal aspects of medical practice that are not routinely covered in medical lectures. A few of the topics addressed include cost-effective health care, communications skills, mutual respect, and pharmacy in medical practice. As well, a course in evidence-based medicine is offered monthly over the dinner hour. Periodically, there are special courses such as a publishing seminar and a short statistics course. More extensive course offerings are available from Mayo Clinic in Rochester during the research months in the second year of the fellowship. Finally, fellows are encouraged to attend courses at national meetings after presenting posters or oral presentations.

Visiting professors offer the opportunity for you to interact with academicians from across the country. Typically, three to four visiting professors provide lectures annually, and have morning sessions specifically devoted to interaction with fellows.

Research Training
A significant portion of your GI fellowship is dedicated to research. This provides you the opportunity to define, develop and perform formal clinical research projects under the guidance of experienced faculty. The Clinical Research Center provides facilities, equipment and research nurse assistants to support your clinical research projects. There are opportunities to collaborate with basic scientists at The Johnson Research Building, on the Mayo Clinic campus in Scottsdale, or with researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, though most fellows choose to perform clinical research exclusively. You will share the information generated during the research year through presentations at national meetings and in publications.

In addition to the protected research time, fellows complete additional research projects, case reports or topic reviews in the midst of their clinical training.

Teaching Opportunities
Fellows are coached in teaching skills to enhance their ability to give effective oral presentations. Fellows participate in a wide variety of teaching environments, including formal and informal teaching of colleagues, internal medicine and family medicine residents, medical students and nursing staff. Every fellow is given the opportunity to contribute annually both to Medical Grand Rounds at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and to the Phoenix Society of Gastroenterology at Fellows' Night.

Evaluation
To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop your technical skills, your performance will be monitored carefully throughout your fellowship. Your supervising faculty member will provide an evaluation after each clinical rotation. In addition, you will regularly evaluate the faculty to ensure that your educational needs are being met.

Career Development
Fellows meet periodically with faculty members, administrators and the program director to discuss career goals. Mayo recruits many of its staff physicians from its own training programs. Upon successful completion of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program, job opportunities may be available at one of Mayo Clinic's group practices.

Call Frequency
The residency call rotation is different for each rotation. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

 

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