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Expectations

Division Expectations of a Cardiology Fellow

  • Attendance and punctuality are required at all division functions. These functions include, but are not limited to, rounds, fellows clinics, and conferences. Except in instances involving emergent patient care, faculty will excuse fellows from other duties to ensure attendance at these functions.
  • Interactions with staff, patients, and colleagues are to be courteous and polite at all times.
  • If a fellow is for any reason unable to meet a schedule requirement, he or she is responsible for identifying a replacement as soon as possible. This applies to consult, night, weekend, and holiday coverage, procedure, clinic appointments and conference presentations. It is the fellows responsibility to notify the fellowship director as soon as possible.
  • Clinic attendance is the fellows responsibility. If a fellow will be unable to attend as scheduled, he or she must first obtain the approval of the fellowship director and then arrange alternate coverage. High quality patient care must be maintained.
  • The Cardiology faculty attending is ultimately responsible for the performance of all cardiovascular procedures, including their prompt termination when he or she deems it necessary. The amount of time and degree of independence allotted a fellow for the safe and efficacious completion of a procedure will be determined solely by the faculty attending on a case-by-case basis.
  • It is a fellow's responsibility to acquaint the patient with the steps involved in procedure preparation and performance, inform the patient of associated risks and obtain the patient's signature on a consent form. The physician obtaining consent must date, time, and sign each form. It is divisional policy that the physician writes a note in the patients chart specifically stating that "consent was explained and signed".
  • During each rotation, the fellow will be evaluated by Cardiology attendings and attending faculty from other departments with whom we work closely. This evaluation will be done verbally with ample opportunity for the fellow to discuss this evaluation. Written evaluations of each fellow are performed on a quarterly basis via Eval. This allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of the fellows overall performance during his training. An evaluation form based on the standard American Board of Internal Medicine evaluation form shall be used. The fellow will also have the opportunity to evaluate each rotation, as well as the faculty on a quarterly basis.
  • Requests for vacation time should be made through the fellowship coordinator during the first week of the year or earlier. (Twenty working days of vacation are permitted annually. These days may not be carried over into the following year.) Approval from the fellowship director is required. Generally, vacation will not be granted the last three weeks of July and during consult rotations. Flexibility will be allowed for job interviewing but use of vacation time for multiple interviews is encouraged. Time off for study and board review courses likewise will be considered vacation. It is recommended, but not required, that vacation be taken in five-day or ten-day blocks.

Expectations for Each Level of Training

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