Privademics and Advantages of Lesser Known Community Programs

In this episode, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Shamit Desai and Dr. Saud Ahmed, interventional radiologists at Franciscan St. James, about advantages of community training programs including practice building, resident and attending relationships, and diversity of job opportunities after training.

The three begin by discussing current IR training pathways, and what Franciscan St. James offers. Dr. Ahmed is the PD for the early specialization in interventional radiology (ESIR) spot at their program, which has been running for three years. They have 3-4 radiology residents per year, and the diagnostic radiology residency is well established. There are no fellows there, which allows residents ample hands-on experience from the beginning of residency, and facetime with attendings.

Next, we discuss the advantages that a small community hospital affords. At their institution, both the IR department as well as the radiology residents have the opportunity to build rapport and trust with referring providers. This is how they are able to build the practice base that is often taken for granted at an academic institution. The community hospital also gives residents more clinical experience; they are taking the IR consults as first years, collaborating on clinical management and rounding with attendings.

Lastly, we discuss the benefit of an ESIR program compared to the integrated IR pathway. They discuss how the diagnostic radiology training is uncompromised which prepares trainees very well for job opportunities after training. They argue that having trained in a community setting makes you more marketable when applying for jobs, especially in private practice. The residents at St. James are prepared to go into practice with a broad diagnostic and interventional skill set, but also understand how to be efficient with procedures and build a practice, which is a huge advantage that is simply not taught at academic institutions.