Cardiothoracic Surgery and Interventional Cardiology - VAMC

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Department
Surgery
Course Number
SURG 386
Course Title Cardiothoracic Surgery and Interventional Cardiology - VAMC
Course Director
Gregory Trachiotis, MD
Length (Weeks)

4
When Offered

All year
Prerequisites

None
Availability Notes

Please contact Jairus Johnson, Chief CT PA (jairus.johnson@va.gov) to arrange for onboarding info and about where to report the first day.
Contact Name
Dr. Trachiotis
Contact Phone
202-745-8000
Contact Fax
Contact Email
gregory.trachiotis@va.gov
Other Contacts

Jairus Johnson, Chief CT PA (jairus.johnson@va.gov)
Location

Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 50 Irving Street NW, Washington, DC 20422
Limit
1-2 students per month
Report

Please contact Jairus Johnson, Chief CT PA (jairus.johnson@va.gov) to arrange for onboarding info and about where to report the first day.
Evaluation

Grading: Honors/High Pass/Pass/Conditional/Fail

  • Clinical evaluation - 50%
  • Clinical Case write-ups - 25%
  • Conference participation - 15%
  • Clinic participation - 10%

Requirements:

  • Clinical case write-ups: complete H+P and interventional cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery recommendations and rationale (four total, one per week)
  • Conference participation: choose one case from either thoracic tumor board or cardiac catheterization conference, perform a review of the literature on the disease topic, and submit summary of patient case and best practices/clinical guidelines/evidence-based medicine (one report)
  • Clinic participation: complete two H+P (new patients) and four progress notes (established patients)

Clinical Case Write-ups 
Your write-ups should include the following:

  1. Patient presentation/chief complaint
  2. Chronological history
  3. Physical exam results
  4. Results of any pathological tests, imaging, or other investigations
  5. Treatment plan
  6. Outcome of treatment

Conference Case Write-up
Your case report should include the following:

  1. Patient presentation/chief complaint
  2. Chronological history
  3. Physical exam results
  4. Results of any pathological tests, imaging, or other investigations
  5. Treatment plan
  6. Outcome of treatment
  7. Summarize review of literature on best practices, clinical practice guidelines, and evidence-based medicine - did your clinical care conform to these? Why or why not? Cite at least 5 manuscripts or references.
Description

Purpose and Rationale for the Course: Cardiovascular disease is very common and is the leading cause of death in both men and women. In 2020, almost 700,000 Americans died from heart disease, accounting for 20% of deaths. When patients develop ischemic heart disease, structural heart disease, or electrophysiologic disorders, medical, cardiac interventional, and cardiothoracic surgery approaches may need to be utilized in order to optimally treat patients. The purpose of this elective is to build competency in determining which patients with cardiac disease can be managed medically and with optimization of atherosclerotic risk factors compared to those patients who require an interventional cardiology procedure and/or cardiothoracic surgical procedure. The ideal manner to learn this clinical thought process and rationale for patient care is to care for patients in a collaborative integrated fashion. Therefore, an elective that partners medicine and surgical specialists would be a unique experience for medical students.

Course Description: The MS3/4 student will be involved in in-patient and out-patient care of patients with cardiothoracic diagnoses. They will participate in:

  1. Operating room and Interventional suite cases - open heart surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass, TAVR, Mitral clip cases
  2. Rounds on the medical and surgical wards
  3. Rounds in the ICU
  4. CT surgery and Structural Heart or Valve clinics - twice per week
  5. Thoracic Tumor Board and Cardiac Catheterization conferences

The work schedule will be M-F (0700-1630). Weekend rounds are optional. There is no overnight time or call required. Please contact Jairus Johnson, Chief CT PA (jairus.johnson@va.gov) to arrange for onboarding info and about where to report the first day.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

  1. Describe the foundational basic sciences and their application to diseases of the heart and great vessels.
  2. Explain the care and work-up of patients with cardiothoracic diagnoses.
  3. Describe the multi-disciplinary care of the patient with cardiac disease.
  4. Apply anatomical knowledge to surgical and cardiology cases.
  5. Demonstrate professional and ethical behaviors with patients and health care team.
  6. Demonstrate the ability to present a patient care - oral and written.
  7. Apply the medical literature to patient care.
  8. Demonstrate effective communications with patients and health care team.
  9. Explain the public health, quality measures, and health care disparities related to heart disease.
Additional Notes