Rotation Schedule Overview

PGY5 YEAR Options:

• Standard Structure:  The final year of residency is divided into 4 blocks.  Each resident will complete two required blocks, one in general radiology, structured as a transition to practice rotation that will include all imaging modalities in body imaging; and one that will include one month each of nuclear medicine, neuroradiology, and mammography in order to meet ACGME requirements.  The other two blocks will be elective “mini-fellowships” in two areas of specific interest to each resident.
• Nuclear Medicine:  This department has an ACGME accredited training program in Nuclear Medicine.  Because of this, it is possible for graduates of the Diagnostic Radiology residency program to qualify for the American Board of Nuclear Medicine certifying examination.  Selected residents (up to 2 per year), can structure their residency to meet this qualification and have the opportunity to be double boarded.
• Global Health Elective:  The County of Los Angeles provides very limited opportunities for an international educational experience during residency.  These include:
  • Elective with credit towards residency must be approved by the program director; must have Goals and Objectives with a qualified supervising faculty at the receiving institution; must be at an institution with an Affiliation Agreement with the County of Los Angeles that will reimburse resident salary and benefits; must be approved by the RRC of ACGME and the ABR
  • Elective without credit towards residency may be taken during vacation time or during an unpaid leave of absence
  • Note that the American College of Radiology does sponsor the Goldberg-Reeder Resident Travel Grant program which is a potential source of funding for international elective  (http://bit.ly/ACRFGRG)

Call Responsibilities
Graduated call responsibilities are fully implemented in compliance with ACGME requirements. Beginning on Dec 31 of the PGY2 year, residents take in house evening call Monday –Friday and day time in house call Saturday and Sunday – with direct faculty supervision. Overnight call responsibilities begin later in residency and continue through the PGY5 year. Primary responsibility of the overnight call is to review and report on Emergency Department imaging studies. Pager call exists in the PGY3-5 years for specific services, including Interventional Radiology. Residents have no call responsibilities during the three months prior to the ABR Core Exam. Faculty backup exists for all call duties. According to current ACGME resident survey data, this program has no violations of duty hour requirements.

Measurement of Resident Performance
Formative evaluations of resident performance are submitted by faculty at completion of each clinical rotation, The program’s Clinical Competency Committee reviews resident Milestone status semi-annually, and advises the program director regarding resident progress, including promotion.

Objective measures of resident performance in comparison with national performance include the ACR In-Training examination (PGY2, PGY3, PGY4, PGY5), the ABR Core examination (PGY4), and the ABR Certifying Examination (15 months after completion of residency. Current programmatic pass rate for the Core Exam is 97% and for the Certifying Exam is 100%.

Most USC radiology residents go on to do subspecialty fellowships. Our residents have been very successful in being accepted to fellowship positions of their choice at excellent institutions including USC, UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, UCSF, Oregon Health Sciences University, University of Washington, Emory, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Yale. Graduates most frequently choose a private practice career path, with many remaining in Southern California where an extensive network of USC Radiology graduates exists. However, several recent graduates opting for academic careers have obtained positions at a variety of institutions, including USC, UCSF, Cornell, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, University of Washington, and University of Pennsylvania.