Mission Statement
Our mission as an endocrinology program is to develop academic leaders who will advance endocrinology research and practice, and train endocrinologists who will provide the highest quality care to patients with endocrine disorders in all health care settings.
Program Aims
Our program aims to:
- Support trainees in becoming lifelong learners, committed to self-reflection, self-assessment, and improvement
- Engage trainees in methods of individualized learning that will improve critical thinking and clinical skills regardless of future career path
- Deliver a core curriculum and clinical experiences that teach basic and advanced endocrine biochemistry, physiology and pathophysiology, providing the basis for understanding, preventing and treating endocrine disorders
- Provide clinical experiences that allow trainees to deliver cost effective team-based care that respects patient values and preferences
- Support trainees in developing the necessary skills and knowledge used in the areas of teaching, quality and safety, and scholarship
- Provide opportunities and flexibility supporting individualized career plans
- Foster a learning environment that promotes progressive responsibility and graduated autonomy
- Maintain a culture of wellness that emphasizes self-care, peer support, camaraderie, and mentorship
- Maintain a learning environment that fosters professionalism, including interactions with peers and other health care providers, communication with patients and families, confidentiality, and avoidance of conflict of interest
Goals and Objectives
Our goals as an endocrinology program are the development of academic leaders who will advance endocrinology research and practice, and to train endocrinologists who will provide the highest quality care to patients with endocrine disorders in all health care settings.
General Objectives
The program will provide training in:
- Endocrine biochemistry, physiology and pathophysiology
- Diagnosis and management of endocrine diseases including:
- History and physical examination for endocrine disorders
- Selection and interpretation of endocrine biochemical tests
- Selection and interpretation of imaging procedures
- Understanding pharmacotherapy for endocrine disorders and appropriate use of surgery, radiation therapy, treatment with radioisotopes, etc.
- Procedural and technical skills, including ultrasound assessment of the thyroid, ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration of the thyroid, interpretation of bone densitometry, and the use of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMS)
- Professionalism, including peer interactions, communication with patients, their families and other health care providers, confidentiality and avoidance of conflict of interest
- Endocrine-related scholarship:
- Quality improvement and patient safety research
- Evidence-based clinical practice, which includes selection of high-quality publications and interpretation of strengths and weaknesses of published literature
- Research and scholarship development, with specific goals of presenting at national/international meetings and publishing original work
- Lifelong learning and professional development
Rotation-Specific Objectives
Clinical Consult Services
- Evaluate and treat endocrine urgencies and emergencies
- Evaluate and treat non-urgent endocrine disorders in hospitalized patients
- Manage diabetes in hospitalized patients, including critically ill medical and surgical patients
- Gain on-call experience covering in-patient units and outpatient urgent calls
- Function as part of multidisciplinary care teams
Outpatient Clinical Experiences
- Evaluate and treat ambulatory acute and chronic endocrine disorders
- Evaluate and treat diabetes in ambulatory patients, including the use of insulin pumps and CGMS
- Provide long-term follow up for patients with chronic endocrine disorders
- Interpret thyroid ultrasounds
- Perform fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodules
- Interpret DXA scans
- Function as part of multidisciplinary care teams
Research/Scholarship Experiences
- Engage in methods of individualized learning that will improve critical thinking and clinical skills regardless of future career path
- Explore opportunities in basic research, clinical research, and/or other forms of scholarship
- Develop a research project to answer a specific question in endocrinology with the goal to produce a scholarly presentation or article for publication