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:
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
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)
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
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
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
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:
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.
A 3rd-year GI fellow does 2 months of tertiary endoscopy and the rest of the time is research/electives.
1st, 2nd and 3rd-year fellows also attend all weekly conferences.
2nd and 3rd-year electives include:
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.