Diagnostic Radiology Residency

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital performs an average of 348,000 studies per year and is a Level 1 Trauma Center that provides radiology residents with the majority of their emergency radiology exposure. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital houses the pediatric radiology department. The Spectrum Health Cancer Center at Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion received the American College of Radiology’s Breast Imaging Center of Excellence Award and is where residents complete rotations in PET.

 

The Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital Diagnostic Radiology department performs an average of 134,000 diagnostic exams per year, including CT and MRI scanning, nuclear medicine with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) camera, angiography, and ultrasound. Residents complete the majority of their fluoroscopy experience at Blodgett Hospital, where there is a substantial bariatric surgery population.

 

Mercy Health Saint Mary Health Care’s board-certified radiologists provide resident training in interventional radiology/angiography, CT and MRI scanning, nuclear medicine, mammography, ultrasound and general radiology. Mercy Health Saint Mary’s is the West Michigan Renal Transplant Center, and provides residents with exposure to a variety of renal failure-related radiological studies. They also opened the region’s first diagnostic Breast Center in 1983, which is the site where residents complete the majority of their mammography rotations. The Lacks Cancer Center at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s is a comprehensive, dedicated cancer hospital.

 

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital

 
Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital

Mercy Health Saint Mary’s

Conferences are held throughout the academic year. There is an average of nine to ten hours of conferences per week. The core curriculum includes: physics, didactic subspecialty lectures and interactive case conferences. The core curriculum for each section covers all aspects of diagnostic and interventional radiology, repeated twice over the resident’s four years. Daily didactic lectures and/or interactive conferences are provided. Physics lectures are given each Tuesday by department physicists and provide the necessary foundation to understand the underlying imaging science for each diagnostic modality and prepare residents for the physics, regulatory and quality questions they will encounter for their certifying exam and in practice. Our medical physics faculty also teaches a curriculum which incorporates NRC requirements so that all of our residents qualify for authorized user status (please see the American Board of Radiology’s website for details regarding NRC authorized user status).

 

In addition to clinical radiology and physics lectures, dedicated lectures or course series are provided in: the radiology report, business concepts, quality and patient safety and ethics as they pertain to the practice of radiology.

 

A dedicated didactic-based curriculum to prepare PGY2 residents for night float runs for six months prior to the resident beginning night float.

Resident run Brant and Helms Conference is held each Tuesday morning to provide introduction to the fundamentals of diagnostic radiology to freshman residents.

Additionally, residents are encouraged to attend and participate in a variety of divisional, departmental and interdepartmental conferences in conjunction with their clinical counterparts, including various specialty tumor boards.    Senior residents have the potential to present at these conferences further preparing them for the rigors of fellowship.

Residents also have a resident run interdisciplinary conference where they teach other clinical residents the pathophysiology relating to their patients, normal/abnormal anatomy, and what are the appropriate imaging tests.

 

Journal Club is held monthly with faculty member facilitator to discuss interesting articles on a topic of the residents’ interest.
Grand Rounds followed by resident education conference are typically provided one to two times per month from a visiting radiologist who is nationally and internationally recognized in their area of expertise.

 

Meetings & Courses
All diagnostic radiology residents attend the 4-week radiologic pathology course at the American Institute for Radiologic Pathology (AIRP) in Silver Spring, MD, during their PGY-4 year in which registration and lodging are paid for by the program.

 

Additional funds are provided during the resident’s third year to specifically be used for a radiology review course for the ABR Core Exam.

 

Residents present their research at major national meetings including RSNA, ARRS, ASNR, and AUR. Residents are also encouraged to present their work at subspecialty meetings. Our program provides financial support for residents to attend any meeting at which the resident is the primary presenter of an oral presentation or educational exhibit.

 

Rotations

Research & teaching opportunities

During radiology residency at Spectrum Health, there are ample research opportunities. Our close affiliation with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine allows us to take advantages of the many resources. Our high volume lends itself for abundant opportunities for case reports and/or case series studies.  Alternately, those who are more academically orientated may join with one of our faculty, many of which have nationally published articles.  Residents are provided with two weeks elective time per year during their third and fourth years. The scholarly activity support department provides resources to residents and faculty in all areas of research and scholarly activity.

Residents present their research at major national meetings including RSNA, ARRS, ASNR, and AUR. Residents are also encouraged to present their work at subspecialty meetings. Our program provides financial support for residents to attend any meeting at which the resident is the primary presenter of an oral presentation or educational exhibit.

The scholarly activity support department provides support to Spectrum Health residents and faculty in all areas of research and scholarly activity (e.g., quality, educational, surveys).  To access more details, including templates (e.g., study protocol, poster), help request forms and other contact information, visit Spectrum Health GME Research.

 

Teaching opportunities
In keeping with the tradition of physician as teacher, residents have many opportunities to teach their colleagues, medical students and patients.  The radiology residents teach medical students the pertinent radiographic and CT findings (normal and abnormal) anatomy during their first year.  The residents also teach each other through weekly conferences such as Brant and Helms Rounds. In addition, the residents participate in a resident-run interdisciplinary conference in which they teach the clinical residents their patient’s pathological imaging findings.

 

Opportunities within the radiology community
Residents are active in the politics of the greater radiology community, both locally as part of the Michigan Radiological Society and nationally through the ACR. Residents attend the annual Michigan Radiological Society Meeting.  Also, in the past we have had residents selected to attend the AUR Radiology Resident Academic Leadership Development (ARRALD) Program introducing them to topics such as radiology leadership, policy, and economics. Residents also participate in Michigan Legislative Day, where they visit with Michigan law makers directly to talk about ACR sponsored initiatives.

 

Call responsibility
Radiology resident in-house call begins in May of the PGY-2 year, with residents stationed in-house at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.  After hours radiology studies at Mercy Healthy St. Mary’s Hospital are remotely interpreted by the resident at the Butterworth Hospital. In-house call involves a night-float system with the majority of call front-loaded into the 2nd year of residency so that residents can develop early expertise and confidence with independent interpretative responsibility.  All in-house residents have continuous expert backup by attendings that are available at all hours for consultation. There is an additional home call pool in which residents are available by pager to cover emergency interventional and fluoroscopic procedures.  There is no extended call and all residents have 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. off except when they are on home call.  Call frequency decreases during the PGY-4 and PGY-5 years and the immediate period leading up to the CORE exam is call free.

Spectrum Health is unique in that while affiliated with a large medical school, our program is not part of a hierarchical academic department. It is through this relationship that we are able to offer the very best of a busy community-based clinical program as well as the academic opportunities of a university. This is demonstrated by the substantial research projects, presentations, and papers generated by our residents annually.

 

Three community teaching hospitals are involved in the Spectrum Health/Michigan State University Diagnostic Radiology residency: Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital and Mercy Health Saint Mary’s. There are more than 75 board-certified radiologists collectively staffing Spectrum Health, and 14 board-certified radiologists staffing Mercy Health Saint Mary’s.

 

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital is a 679 bed non-profit acute care teaching hospital. It serves as a Level I Trauma Center and the High Risk OB Referral Center for West Michigan. It houses the West Michigan Regional Burn Center. In addition to cardiac transplantation, Spectrum Health has also been recently approved for lung transplants. Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital is a 410 bed non-profit acute care teaching hospital with an active medical staff of 240 physicians. There are more than 14,000 admissions annually. Emergency room visits number about 37,000 per year; there are approximately 14,000 clinic visits. Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital houses an Arthritis Institute which focuses on reconstructive surgery.

 

Mercy Health Saint Mary’s is a non-profit 300-bed acute care teaching hospital, has more than 200 attending physicians on the active staff.

 

Our diagnostic radiology residency program has a long-standing testimony to our commitment to academic excellence and achievement from our current residents and our graduates. We are fully accredited by the ACGME and have received ESIR (Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology) designation.

Robust training experience with a case volume being among the top in the state, including cases in rare diseases and post-transplant studies. Level 1 Adult Trauma Center and are only one of three Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Centers in the state.

Graduates have completed fellowships at some of the best institutions in the country, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins, Mallinkrodt, Mayo Clinic, and Stanford University.

Visiting professors are provided one to two times per month who are nationally and internationally recognized in their area of expertise.

Dedicated radiology program director with over 25 years of experience.

We offer strong research support.

Our program accepts applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service. This service is provided to medical students during their senior year by their medical school. We begin accepting applications on September 15 each year and our deadline for completed applications is December 1. See our eligibility requirements.

 

Application Requirements:

Our program received four year accreditation on February 20, 2015 from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Our first self-study date is scheduled for November 2021. For more information on our program, contact the program coordinator. 

Spectrum Health provides a comprehensive and very competitive benefits package for our residents, staff and their families. In addition, our program provides educational monies to support your ongoing education. Download our salary and benefits document to learn more.