Clinical Training and Education

Clinical Rotations

The Henry Ford Hospital Department of Radiology offers 8 categorical positions annually in our ACGME accredited Diagnostic Radiology Residency, along with 1 categorical position in the Interventional Radiology-Integrated program. These categorical positions include an integrated clinical internship year followed by the four year Diagnostic Radiology or five year IR-Integrated Radiology residency. The Diagnostic Radiology internship year at Henry Ford Hospital consists of five months of Internal Medicine floors, one month of Emergency Medicine, one consult month, one clinic month, and one ICU month. Three rotations of active radiology training are also included in the intern year. During radiology rotations, PGY-1 residents function as full members of the department and are responsible for interpreting exams and providing consultations for referring physicians. The Interventional Radiology internship similarly incorporates the same radiology training, but is otherwise more surgically focused. Details can be found here.

Radiology rotations are divided into 4 week blocks, with a total of 13 rotations annually. Our clinical rotations are arranged to provide the resident with exposure to all radiologic subspecialties early in their training, including MR and procedural radiology.

The vast majority of the clinical rotations occur at main campus; however, residents also rotate at our West Bloomfield campus, outpatient breast clinics at the Fairlane campus, and the Henry Ford Center for Athletic Medicine. As part of their pediatric rotation, residents spend 3 months at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.

During each rotation, residents take part in multiple multidisciplinary conferences and tumor boards, actively participating in the planning, preparation, and presentation of cases.

Abdominal:

• Clinical rotations in our Abdominal division include: CT, Body IR, Body MRI, GI/GU fluoroscopy, and Ultrasound. 
• Body IR is integrated into the Body CT block as a 1-week rotation where residents get hands-on, primary operator training with Body staff. Dedicated CT and ultrasound rooms are specifically available for Body procedures, which include paracenteses, thoracenteses, visceral organ biopsies, and drainage catheter placement.
• The Abdominal division interprets all trimesters of obstetric ultrasound, which provides a unique learning opportunity not available at many institutions.
• The high volume multi-visceral transplant center including kidney, liver, pancreas, small bowel and lung brings the opportunity to interpret transplant ultrasound.
• The opening of the new cancer center will bring more diverse oncologic imaging. 
• Weekly GI and GU Tumor Boards and Body Imaging Conference.

Thoracic:

• Clinical rotations in our Thoracic division include: CXR, CT, and Cardiac. 
• We have 6 fellowship-trained cardiothoracic radiologists. 
• Rotations include interpretation of a wide breadth of pathology including ICU, trauma, thoracic oncology, cardiothoracic/cardiovascular surgery, infectious disease, interstitial lung disease, and lung transplant services.
• Opportunities to perform chest fluoroscopy during the Chest rotation.
• Weekly interdepartmental Lung Cancer Tumor Board, Interstitial Lung Disease Conference, and Pulmonary Fellow CXR Conference.
• Cardiac MRI and coronary CTA studies are performed in the radiology department and interpreted in collaboration with both radiology and cardiology faculty.
• Abundant opportunities to interpret pre-operative and post-operative CTs for Structural Heart procedures including TAVR, left atrial appendage occlusion, and mitral valve procedures.

Interventional Radiology:

• Innovative VIR procedures include prostate artery embolization, image-guided tumor ablation, uterine fibroid embolization, and prophylactic internal iliac balloon occlusion placement for placenta accreta spectrum. 
• Interventional oncology including Yttrium-90 radioembolization, chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, and microwave ablations.
• High volume liver transplant center with many hepatobiliary and transplant interventions.
• Mentice vascular simulator available to residents.
• Plan for expansion to 10 dedicated IR suites.
• 2 positions per year for ESIR.
• Please see more information on our dedicated Interventional Radiology website.

MSK:

• 10 fellowship-trained MSK radiologists. High volume of diagnostic US and US-guided procedures, in addition to CT-guided procedures including ablations.
  • Pioneering staff in the area of MSK ultrasound.
• Interpret cases for the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Lions.
• Recently opened Center for Athletic Medicine in conjunction with the Detroit Pistons has reading rooms, US suites, and MRI.
• High volume of orthopedic oncologic imaging.
• Level 1 trauma center brings in high volume of trauma imaging.

Breast Imaging:

• Extensive breadth of pathology imaged across multiple modalities in MRI, ultrasound, breast tomosynthesis, and digital mammography.
• Multiple sites allowing for a diverse patient population.
• Molecular breast imaging institution, centered at the West Bloomfield location. 
• Vast procedural experience including mammographic, tomographic, ultrasound, and MRI guided procedures

Neuroradiology:

• Clinical rotations in our Neuroradiology division includes: Neuro CT, Neuro MRI, and Neuro IR including neuroangiography. 
• 15+ fellowship-trained neuroradiologists on staff. 
• Wide variety in neuropathology including trauma, stroke, and neuro-oncology.
• Comprehensive Stroke Center certified by The Joint Commission with expertise in treating complex stroke cases.
• Opportunity to read intraoperative MRIs from our innovative intraoperative MRI suite.
• Hands-on experience during the Neuro IR rotation that includes procedures such as lumbar punctures, myelograms, epidural injections, nerve root and facet injections, vertebroplasty, as well as diagnostic and interventional neuroangiography.
• Numerous multidisciplinary conferences and tumor boards, including brain, spine, and head and neck tumor boards along with interdisciplinary conferences with neuro-ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and ENT.

Nuclear Medicine:

• Learn to interpret a wide range of nuclear medicine imaging modalities.
• Exposure to nuclear cardiology including myocardial perfusion imaging and cardiac PET.
• Opportunity to participate in therapeutic nuclear medicine including radioactive iodine therapy, Radium-223 therapy, and Lutetium-177 therapy.
• Dedicated thyroid clinic where we see hyperthyroid and thyroid cancer patients for individualized treatment and counselling.
• Additional PET/CT scanner in our new Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion.

Pediatric Radiology: 

• One month at HFH during the R1 year to establish a strong foundation in pediatric imaging, with an emphasis on neonatal/NICU imaging, under the supervision of four fellowship-trained pediatric radiologists
• Three-month rotation at Children’s Hospital of Michigan (CHM), a tertiary referral center with excellent pathology in close proximity to HFH, in late R2/early R3 year with daily educational conferences
• Pediatric case-based and didactic educational conferences throughout all years of training at HFH
• Consistent exposure to inpatient and ED pediatric cases while on-call throughout training

Emergency Radiology Rotation and Call Responsibilities

Call responsibilities begin in April of the R1 year (PGY-2). Residents are responsible for providing preliminary interpretations for a wide range of studies, as well as providing contrast reaction and extravasation coverage. Attending staff radiologists are in-house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and are available to assist the on-call residents, as well as provide feedback in real time. Most preliminary reports are co-signed by the attending radiologist within the hour, which helps ensure timely and appropriate patient management. The various call shifts are listed below:

We employ a night float system to provide overnight coverage. Our night float weeks consist of 7 consecutive overnight shifts, dispersed through the academic year. First year residents have 1 bweek of night float, third year residents have 3 weeks of night float, and second and fourth year residents have 4 blocks of night float. In-house staff radiologists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Nightly didactic sessions are also held for the overnight residents, led by the emergency division staff.

Education

Noon conference is held daily from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM and is primarily case-based. Afternoon didactic conferences are held Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 4:00 - 5:00 PM and employ a 2-year revolving didactic curriculum. Abdominal/thoracic conferences are held Thursday mornings from 7:30 - 8:30 AM for residents on body/chest, pediatric, and nuclear medicine rotations. Additionally, there is a daily MSK conference which occurs at 12:45-1:30 for residents on MSK rotations. Departmental board reviews for third year radiology residents (PGY-4) begin in February of each year. We have a 100% pass rate on the ABR Core Exam.

Henry Ford is privileged to offer a residency program in Medical Physics and our residents benefit from being taught by experts in the field. Our physics didactic curriculum is a revolving 1 year curriculum.

Our department co-sponsors the Visiting Professor program with several other southeast Michigan area hospitals. All radiology residents are excused from clinical responsibilities so that they may attend a 4-hour lecture delivered by various renowned speakers in radiology throughout the year.

Medical Student Education

3rd and 4th-year medical students from Wayne State University, as well as from outside institutions routinely rotate through our radiology department, which allows us the opportunity to teach and mentor.

Residents give weekly educational conferences to medical students and teach routinely at the workstation.