Sample Schedule

The typical weekly schedule for a 1st-year GI fellow in the UCD system:

Every first-year GI fellow does nine months on the general GI service, divided among the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH), the VA Hospital (DVAMC), and Denver Health Medical Center (DHMC). A typical general GI week is listed below:

Monday

07:00-08:00 - Work rounds with the resident

08:00-12:00 - Endoscopy at all 3 hospitals

13:00-17:00 - Rounding with attendings/endoscopy at DVAMC and DHMC

Tuesday

07:00-08:00 - Fellow's pathology conference with a dedicated GI pathologist

08:00-12:00 - Endoscopy at DHMC and DVAMC

12:00-13:00 - IBD Multidisciplinary conference

13:00-17:00 - Rounding with attendings/endoscopy at UCH and DHMC (Clinic at DVAMC)

Wednesday

07:00-08:00 - Work rounds with resident

08:00-12:00 - Endoscopy at DVAMC, work rounds at UCH, and clinic at DHMC

12:00-13:00 - Internal Medicine Grand Rounds

13:00-17:00 - Endoscopy/work rounds at all 3 hospitals

Thursday

07:00-08:00 - Decision Making in Gastroenterology conference  

08:00-12:00 - Endoscopy at all 3 hospitals

12:00-13:00 - ERCP conference once per month  

13:00-17:00 - Endoscopy/work rounds at DVMAC and DHMC (Clinic at UCH)

15:00-16:00 - GI-Surgery Conference at DVAMC

Friday

07:00-08:30 - GI Grand Rounds

08:30-09:30 - Endoscopy conference, first and third Fridays

08:30-09:30 - Journal Club, fourth Friday

08:30-12:00 - Endoscopy at all 3 hospitals

12:00-13:00 - Hepatobiliary conference at UCH (a multi-disciplinary conference with hepatology, transplant surgery, IR, general radiology, and tertiary endoscopy)

12:00-13:00 - GI-Surgery Conference at DHMC

13:00-17:00 - Endoscopy/work rounds at all 3 hospitals

Other Requirements

Each 1st-year GI fellow also does one month of nutrition, one month of dedicated endoscopy, and one month of inpatient hepatology. Every noon hour the first month of every academic year is dedicated to teaching the 1st-years the "core curricula" of gastroenterology (management GI bleeding, use of a Minnesota tube, etc...)

The hepatology month consists of supervising the 2 residents on the hepatology service and the patients include people that are either pre-transplant or have non-surgical issues much later after transplant has been performed.  

The primary team taking care of ICU patients is the pulmonary service with hepatology consulting. Patients at UCD that are not affiliated with a primary hepatologist are seen by the general GI fellow at UCHSC. The hepatology fellow does round one day on the weekend and otherwise just works weekdays.

There are 2 additional conferences the fellow on the hepatology service should attend:

  1. Transplant selection committee on Thursday mornings at 07:00-08:00
  2. Hepatic pathology conference on Thursdays from 08:00-08:30.

2nd Year GI Fellows

A 2nd-year GI fellow does one month of tertiary endoscopy, 2 months of inpatient hepatology, and one month of motility. The rest of the time is research/electives.

3rd Year GI Fellows

A 3rd-year GI fellow does 2 months of tertiary endoscopy and the rest of the time is research/electives. 

Weekly Conferences

1st, 2nd and 3rd-year fellows also attend all weekly conferences.

Electives

2nd and 3rd-year electives include:

  • Outpatient hepatology clinics
  • Anorectal diseases (which consists of once-weekly clinics with a board-certified colorectal surgeon (Graham Sellers, M.D.) with an emphasis on the outpatient management of anorectal pathology (hemorrhoids, fissures, etc...)
  • Weekly clinics with Drs. Levine or Freeman on consultative tertiary gastroenterology.
  • Endoscopy clinic, half-day each week

All fellows are allotted a $1500 travel expenditure per year, to be used to attend either the AASLD conference or DDW.

1st-year fellows are given the opportunity to attend a national endoscopy course. 

3rd-year fellows do have a GI Boards prep course paid for (travel expenditure not included unless people are staying within the UCD, DVAMC, or DHMC academic system).

There are 3 fellows on-call at night during the week and 2 fellows on-call during weekends.  During the week, there is coverage for hepatology, general GI (UCD, DVAMC, and DHMC), and specials (all hospitals for tertiary endoscopy procedures with general GI covered at the AIP by this fellow as well).  

1st-year fellows take the majority of the general GI call, but do not share in the specials call.  2nd and 3rd-year fellows split 12 weekends of general GI coverage, 24 weeknights of general GI coverage, and all of the specials coverage.  The fellow on hepatology that month manages the light weeknight hepatology call.  

The general GI fellow on the weekend also manages any acute hepatology issues.  Although the hepatology fellow does work one half-day during the weekend, if a fellow is not on-call, the weekend is otherwise free of duties on all rotations.

All fellows have 3 weeks of vacation and one week dedicated to national conference attendance.