Resident Rotations
Clinical Rotations of the Two-Year Categorical Training Program in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
The table below demonstrates the rotations for the two residents per clinical year of our two year program. While at Loyola, the two to three residents on the Thoracic and Adult Cardiovascular rotations have great flexibility in covering those cases they feel give them the greatest opportunity for education, while taking into account the benefits of longitudinal care.
While on the Thoracic rotation, the resident is understood to be primarily dedicated to that service, but if no outpatient or other clinical demand is concerned, he/she is free to scrub on any case. Beyond obligations to orient the junior residents at the beginning of the year, there is no hierarchy between years, though the order of the rotations has been organized to take maximum advantage of clinical progress in training. Therefore, by the time the junior residents rotate on the Congenital Cardiothoracic Service in the third or fourth quarters of the year, they have had a strong background in adult cardiothoracic practice to prepare them.
Similarly, the first year will prepare the resident to seize every opportunity for supervised autonomy at the Hines VA Hospital during the second year of residency, and to handle the most complex cases on Adult Cardiovascular and Thoracic services while at Loyola.
Our two year program has typically produced board eligible practitioners, ready to assume an independent clinical practice at the end of training: many have sought no further fellowship training. For those who want to obtain an advanced surgical credential through residency training in Congenital, or superfellowship in a specific discipline, the brevity of a two year program allows time saved compared to three year programs.
