Clinical training

Clinical excellence requires experience. In 2016, the surgical volumes at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, exceeded 3,200 cardiac and 1,500 noncardiac thoracic surgical procedures. Additionally, over 10,000 interventional cases were performed in the cardiac catheterization lab. Intraoperative echocardiography is used in approximately 90% of cardiac operations.

You begin the intraoperative experience as an in-room provider (typically one month) to accustom you to the operating room (OR) processes of the institution. Subsequent months in the OR setting allow fellows to play an increasingly supervisory role. This model allows for a greater clinical experience both in terms of case volume and complexity, and assimilates practice models many trainees will transition to following fellowship.

Rotation schedule

A sample rotation block schedule is found below, but keep in mind that flexibility exists to tailor elective rotations to meet individual trainee goals.

Call frequency

You take call from home one week at a time. Call frequency averages no more than one in every three weeks. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Research training

A portion of this fellowship can be allotted to research in diverse areas within the Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesia. Some areas of active investigation related to the cardiovascular and thoracic (CVT) practice include:

• Coagulation
• Cardiac muscle physiology and pharmacology
• Physiology of endothelium and platelets
• Cardiopulmonary bypass and cerebral physiology
• Resuscitation and monitoring
• Echocardiography
• Thoracic analgesia
• Outcomes research
• Information management

If you have a research interest, a variety of opportunities outside the division also can be integrated with your clinical CVT training.

Didactic training

• Lecture series
• Weekly conferences, including Cardiac Anesthesia Conference, Anesthesia Grand Rounds, Cardiac Imaging Grand Rounds, Echo Lab Fellow Case Conference
• Echo scan lab
• Anatomy cadaver dissection lab
• Dedicated CVT fellow didactic curriculum

Simulation education

The 10,000-square-foot Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, provides each fellow with the opportunity to serve as both a learner and faculty co-instructor in several exercises throughout the year.

Teaching opportunities

Opportunities are available for you to teach Mayo Clinic medical students, visiting medical students, anesthesiology residents and others through operating room instruction, workshops and formal didactic lectures.

Additional training

While this fellowship is a single-year training program, a number of our fellows have also completed the Critical Care Anesthesiology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic, either before or after their CVT training.

Evaluation

To ensure you acquire adequate knowledge and develop the appropriate technical skills to meet program expectations, your performance is monitored carefully during the Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship. You are formally evaluated by supervising faculty members on a regular basis and meet with the program director to review these evaluations.

In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to confirm your educational needs are being met.