Fellows Rotation in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
at Froedtert Hospital and VA Medical Center
Objectives
- To achieve broad, in-depth exposure to all aspects of clinical endocrinology.
- Special emphasis at Froedtert Hospital is placed upon management of glucose levels on in-patients from the organ transplant unit. Additional emphasis occurs in the areas of Diabetes in Pregnancy and insulin pumps.
- Special emphasis at the VA Medical Center is placed on patient management through a computerized medical record system.
- Froedtert Hospital is the principal teaching hospital of the fellowship program and the venue for most teaching conferences.
Location and Contact Information
- Froedtert Hospital-East Clinic Building-4th Floor
414-805-0438
- Zablocki VA Medical Center-4B Shared Clinic
414-384-2000 x42760
Course Structure
1. Clinics:
Outpatients are seen in the Froedtert-East Clinics and at the 4B Multi-Specialty Clinic at the Zablocki VA Medical Center.
The Froedtert East Clinics contain eight exam rooms, office space, and several patient care rooms and classrooms for the Diabetes Care Center. The Endocrine Diagnostic Unit is also contained within this location.
Fellows typically evaluate two new patients per clinic and as many follow-up patients as possible (typically four to six). Decisions regarding diagnostic testing and management are made in conjunction with the faculty member during each visit. Fellows are also responsible for dictating the initial letter on consultation to the referring physician and follow-up letters after test results come back.
Fellows follow the same cache of patients for two years throughout one weekly half-day "Continuity Clinic" at the VA Medical Center.
2. In-Patient Consults:
There is not a separate in-patient endocrine service. All patients are admitted to the Medicine Ward teams or other services with the endocrinology service acting as consults.
These are three separate rosters of inpatient consults: the Endocrine Consult Service at FMLH, the Diabetes Consult Service at FMLH, and the Endocrine Consult Service at the VA Medical Center. On any given month a fellow is assigned to either the two consult services at FMLH or the single service at the VA Medical Center.
Each fellow is responsible for approximately five to ten consult inpatients at any given time. Each of the four inpatient consult service sees approximately 10-30 consults per month. While on the FMLH Diabetes Consult Service, which is separate from the FMLH Endocrine Consult Service, the fellows monitor fingerstick results and write all insulin orders on the organ transplant patients. All consults are staffed by one of the Endocrinology/Diabetology faculty. Fellows oversee the residents and medical students on the consult service and give short lectures on different endocrine topics during consult rounds. The fellows are also responsible for presenting patients at the Endocrine Surgical Case Conference and Endocrine Case Conferences.
3. Conferences:
Conferences at FMLH/VAMC include: Journal Club, Core Conferences, Fellows, Endocrine-Surgery, Residents Case Conferences, Endocrine Board Reviews, and Medicine Grand Rounds. These are generally scheduled 12:00–2:00 P.M. on Mondays, 4:00–5:00 P.M. on Thursdays and 8:00–9:00 A.M. on Fridays.
4. Research:
Research mentors may be chosen from among the FMLH/VAMC faculty.
5. Night and weekend call:
Fellows are on call for one weekend of the rotation. A designated FMLH/VAMC endocrine staff provides backup.
6. Evaluations:
Faculty evaluate the fellows on a bi-annual basis. The fellows evaluate both the faculty and the fellows on a bi-annual basis as well.