Visiting Fellowship in Nuclear Medicine
Division of Nuclear Medicine

Offered by the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in conjunction with
The Office of Continuing Medical Education
Washington University School of Medicine

Program Description

Our visiting fellow courses are intended to offer the practicing radiologist or nuclear medicine physician an opportunity to observe and discuss procedures in Nuclear Medicine in a clinical practice setting.  The program is individualized to provide observation of those procedures of particular interest to each Visiting Fellow.  Staff members in Nuclear Medicine are committed to devoting time to the Visiting Fellow for his or her instruction.

Less commonly performed procedures may not always be done during the participant's visit.  However, even if none is performed, time can be scheduled to discuss the procedure, equipment, and representative studies with an experienced staff nuclear medicine physician.

Our general Nuclear Medicine course provides the Visiting Fellow with the opportunity to become familiar with the technical and clinical aspects of the most commonly performed cardiovascular nuclear medicine studies (gated myocardial perfusion SPECT and cardiac blood pool imaging), as well as a wide range of conventional nuclear medicine procedures, including applications of SPECT/CT.  Although the course is very flexible and can be tailored to meet the needs of each Fellow, our experience suggests that those who have benefited most have had a good foundation in the basic principles of nuclear medicine (such as might be obtained by prior attendance at a didactic course or by reading one of several available textbooks).

A separate visiting Fellowship with specific emphasis in positron emission tomography is available (see menu at left).

This general Nuclear Medicine fellowship involves the following activities:

• Attend the daily image interpretation sessions in the Division of Nuclear Medicine (general and/or cardiac).
• Observe technique of all routine studies.
• Opportunity for daily discussions with nuclear medicine staff.
• Review film and computerized teaching files.
• If desired, attend daily 8:30–9:30 a.m. Nuclear Medicine Division teaching conferences (held on the ninth floor of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital West Pavilion) and 12:00–1:00 p.m. Radiology Department teaching conferences (held in Scarpellino Auditorium on the first floor of the MIR building).  A schedule of these conferences to be held during the visit will be provided at the beginning of each fellowship.
• Access to the Division of Nuclear Medicine library.  Textbooks and journals may be signed out by the Fellow during his or her visit.

All activities are conducted in the Division of Nuclear Medicine on the second floor of the Center for Advanced Medicine (Barnes-Jewish Hospital North Campus) or on the ninth floor of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital West Pavilion (South Campus). 

Cost

The participation fee is $350.00 per day or $1,500.00 per five days extending Monday through Friday.  In general, only one Visiting Fellow per week can be accommodated in each course.  These courses are intended to add to prior knowledge and not meant to create an “expert” in a short time.  Legal insurance restrictions prevent us from allowing direct participation of Visiting Fellows in procedures.

Accreditation

Washington University is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians.

Washington University designates this educational activity for a maximum of 8 hours per day of Category 1 credit toward the AMA Physicians’ Recognition Award.  Physicians should claim only those hours of credit that they actually spent in the educational activity.

Disclosure Policy

It is the policy of Washington University School of Medicine, Office of Continuing Medical Education, to ensure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all its educational programs.  All faculty participating in these programs are expected to disclose to the program audiences any real or apparent conflicts of interest related to the content of their presentations.

HIPAA Compliance

Because the Visiting Fellow will have access to protected health information of our patients, Washington University School of Medicine requires that we obtain documented confirmation that the Visiting Fellow has received HIPAA education.  This is necessary in order to comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.  This documentation can be supplied at the time the application for the Visiting Fellowship is submitted or at the beginning of the course.  If the Visiting Fellow has never had HIPAA education, or cannot provide documentation of such education, we will request a unique ID# and password from the University Compliance Office that will allow the Visiting Fellow to access the Washington University web-based training.  The education modules can then be completed on the web prior to arriving for the Fellowship program. 

Housing

Overnight accommodations arrangements must be made by the participant. A list of nearby hotels is included with the application form.

Application Information

Should you care to participate, please contact Rachel Martens to obtain an application.

Rachel Martens
Division of Nuclear Medicine
Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology
510 S. Kingshighway Blvd.
St. Louis, MO  63110
TEL:  314-362-2809
FAX:  314-362-2806

E - m a i l :       martensr
(cont.)             @mir.wustl.edu