Curriculum

The five-year Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners/Michigan State University Diagnostic Radiology Residency is designed to provide comprehensive training in all phases of general radiology with special attention to subspecialty interests during the senior year.

PGY1: Transitional Year with our GRMEP TY program 

The first year of the program is designed to provide a solid medical foundation. Residents rotate through the three Grand Rapids hospitals and assume a major responsibility for patient care.

There is ample opportunity to discuss findings, therapeutic approaches and pathophysiology with senior residents and attending faculty physicians, both informally and in formal teaching rounds. Departmental and specialty teaching conferences complement the clinical experience.

Rotations are scheduled in 13 four-week blocks.

Internal Medicine Floors/Wards - 1 block

Internal Medicine/MICU – 1 block

Emergency Medicine – 1 block

General Surgery (Inpatient) – 1 block

Pediatrics (Inpatient) – 1 block

Ambulatory Care (call free) – 1 block

Inpatient Cardiology – 1 block

Orthopaedic Surgery – 1 block

Sports Medicine – 1 block

Pulmonary OR Neurology (your choice) - 1 block

Radiology - 2 blocks

PGY2: Radiology

The following rotations are meant to prepare the resident to begin independent call duties during the tenth month of the second post-graduate year.

Chest – 1 block

Bone – 1 block

GI/Fluoro – 1 block

Nuclear Medicine – 1 block

Pediatric Radiology – 1 block

GU/CT/US – 1 block

ER/Night Float – 1 block

Neuroradiology – 2 blocks

CT – 2 blocks

Ultrasound – 2 blocks 

PGY3-4: Radiology

During third and fourth years, residents continue to refine their knowledge of General Radiology with emphasis on Bone, Chest, Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary systems, Nuclear Radiology, Diagnostic Ultrasound, Computerized Tomography, MRI, Pediatric Radiology, Emergency Radiology, Interventional Angiography, Neuroradiology, Cardiac Radiology, and Mammography.

During the third year, all residents attend a 4-week course at the AIRP in Silver Springs, MD. This course focuses on correlation of gross, microscopic, and radiologic pathology.

Year Five

The fifth year is tailored to meet the individual resident's needs and career goals. Our faculty begins working with each resident early during training to determine specific specialty interests. Our curriculum is designed to optimize our resident’s success the on both the current and the new American Board of Radiology’s certifying exams.

Hospitals

There are three major teaching hospitals that form an integral part of the Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners/Michigan State University Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program. They are Saint Mary's Health Care, Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital and Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital.

Spectrum Health Butterworth Campus

Spectrum Health Butterworth Campus is a 520-bed non-profit acute care teaching hospital which admits more than 36,000 patients annually. It serves as a Level I Trauma Center and the High Risk OB Referral Center for West Michigan. More than 99,000 patients are seen in the Emergency Department and 19,000 in the Ambulatory Care Department each year. It houses the West Michigan Regional Burn Center. Spectrum Health Butterworth has an active medical staff of over 300 physicians.

Spectrum Health Blodgett Campus

Spectrum Health Blodgett Campus is a 410 bed non-profit acute care teaching hospital with an active medical staff of 240 physicians. There are more than 14,000 admissions annually. Emergency room visits number about 37,000 per year; there are approximately 14,000 clinic visits. Spectrum Health Blodgett houses an Arthritis Institute which focuses on reconstructive surgery.

Saint Mary's Health Care

Saint Mary's Health Care is a non-profit 300-bed acute care teaching hospital, has more than 200 attending physicians on the active staff. The hospital admits over 16,000 patients annually, and its Family Health Center and Comprehensive Health Center record 34,500 visits each year.

Hospital Equipment

All hospitals are equipped with a recently updated version of McKesson PACS. Ergonomic workstations are provided for all residents.

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital

• 9 ultrasound units
• 4 multislice CT's (64 and 16 slice included)
• 2 1.5 T MRI units
• 1 3 T MRI unit
• 5 fluoroscopy rooms (one remote)
• 3 angiography suites (including biplanar for neurointerventional)
• 4 gamma cameras
• 7 digital radiography units
• SPECT/CT
• PET/CT

Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital

• 5 ultrasound units
• 2 multislice CT's (16 slice included)
• 1 1.5T MRI unit
• 4 fluoroscopy rooms (2 remote)
• 3 digital radiography units
• 3 angiography suites (1 biplane for neurointerventional)
• 3 gamma cameras
• 64 slice CT, bariatric 16 slice CT, SPECT/CT

BEARS (Spectrum Health outpatient imaging center)

• 1 0.7T open MRI unit
• 1 16 slice CT

Saint Mary's Health Center

• 2 multislice CT's (64 slice included)
• 1 1.5T MRI units
• 1 3 T MRI unit
• 4 ultrasound units
• 2 angiography suites (biplane included)
• 4 fluoroscopy rooms
• digital mammography units
• 2 radiography units (CR)
• 3 gamma cameras
• Coming soon: PET/CT (Jan 09), SPECT/CT

Saint Mary's Southwest (outpatient imaging center/urgent care center)

• 1 64 slice CT
• 1 digital radiography unit
• 1 digital mammography unit
• 1 ultrasound unit

Research

The Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners/Michigan State University Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program exposes the residents to both the academic and clinical practice of radiology. Research is a requirement in our program.

A research endeavor is to be completed each year of radiology residency training, including at least one clinical research project.

Clinical Research

This is original research. It requires approval of experimental design prior to proceeding. It will include an abstract, introduction, methods, results, statistical analysis, and discussion, with the format following the recommendations of a major radiology journal.

All projects require:

• Approval by appropriate Investigational Review Board (IRB)
• Clinical faculty mentors
• Status review with Research Director
• Submission to GRMEP Research Day
• All projects must be of publishable quality

Submission of papers/posters for presentation at national meetings (RSNA, ARRS, or other national meetings deemed acceptable by the program director) is encouraged. The Research Office at Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners, research@grmep.org, will provide support to residents in all areas of research and scholarly activity.

Case Report

A case report is a brief discussion of a single case with unique features; either unique manifestation of a disease entity or making unique use of imaging to diagnose a disease entity. Abstract is in the form of an introduction which includes a general background of the case and the imaging relevance. The Abstract is in the form of that required by a radiology journal for submission, including an introduction which includes a general background of the case and the imaging relevance. The discussion should be related to imaging.

Didactics

A two year rotating didactic curriculum covering the nine sections of radiology is complimented by interactive case conferences and general lectures covering topics such as research design, critical thinking skills, resident personal finance, radiology liability issues, and leadership topics.

Our physics faculty teaches a four year physics curriculum which incorporates NRC requirements, so that all of our residents qualify for authorized user status (Please see the American Board of Radiology’s website for details regarding NRC authorized user status).

A Visiting Professor/Grand Rounds series is conducted at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital with 10-12 speakers per year, including oral board examiners. Recently implemented is the Visiting Professor series at St. Mary’s Medical Center with 8-9 speakers per year.

A dedicated curriculum to prepare PGY2 residents for call runs for six months and includes a weekly call conference.

Our faculty is committed to our resident's success, as evidenced by the 25-30 mock oral sessions that they conduct for our senior residents each spring.