Advanced Vascular Surgery Clerkship

Overview

The Advanced Vascular Surgery Clerkship at Massachusetts General Hospital is administered through Harvard Medical School. This is an advanced rotation for students who have completed basic and core surgery rotations and is designed to teach basic and advanced peripheral vascular principles and approaches to care. Students will participate in the initial evaluation, operation and post-operative care of patients with a wide range of vascular diseases.

Students will be exposed to leading-edge clinical care, research, clinical trials, advanced open surgical techniques as well as endovascular techniques. Operative participation is emphasized. Students will have the opportunity to scrub in on complex operations, including: aortic reconstructions, endovascular stent grafts, cerebral and peripheral vascular procedures and will be expected to participate in their patient's post-operative care. Responsibilities will be similar to those of a surgery sub-intern.

This course is principally directed at students who are seriously contemplating a career in vascular surgery.

Learning Goals

• Gain insight into the complexities of vascular disease
• Become familiar with the pre-operative evaluation and post-operative management of vascular patients
• To know the basic studies performed in a vascular lab and understand how they are used in the care of vascular patients
• To understand the basic surgical principles of arterial revascularization and venous disease therapy

Requirements

This is an advanced surgery rotation. Knowledge of core surgery evaluation and familiarization in surgical care of patients is imperative. The student must understand basic surgery principles of patient care and be familiar with scrubbing in the operating room.

Curriculum

Daily rounds of inpatients, clinic experience and operative surgery are the fundamentals of the rotation experience. Teaching rounds are included, along with morbidity and mortality conferences.

Every student chooses a project of interest in which they are assisted to do in-depth research culminating in a presentation to all members of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. Though challenging, students have generally loved this experience and found it extremely rewarding in preparing them for academic life.

This is a well-suited rotation for those interested in exploring and developing a career in vascular surgery.

Conferences

There are several didactic and interactive conferences each week during which disease entities or interesting patients are presented. The patient management and vascular surgery topics are discussed with residents and attendings supporting their plans with current literature.

Evaluation

Evaluation is performed by the surgeons, residents, and fellows with whom the st.udent has worked with. They are based on student participation, interest and demonstration of scholarly activity

How to Apply

To facilitate the application process, students are very strongly encouraged to contact the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery as soon as possible to ensure availability of rotation slots. In addition, formal application needs to be undertaken through the Registrars Office at Harvard Medical School to obtain credit for the rotation. Applications to Harvard Medical School's Registrar's Office need to be completed three months before the start of the rotation.

Apply now.