Clinical Overview

We are proud of the wide range of clinical settings that each fellows experiences. Overall, the fellow gets exposure to a breadth and depth of various disease states. This exposure ultimately gives the fellow confidence upon graduation to continue to provide high quality care for the patient with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease. 

First Year

Inpatient consultation: Each first year fellow covers the Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH) consult service for a total of five months. This is done in two weeks blocks, with the same attending throughout most of the block. The consult service gets ~1-3 consultations per day. Many times there is a medical resident or student on the service, allowing for honing of teaching skills.

Each first year fellow also will cover the Nashville Veterans Administration (NAVA) and Nashville General Hospital (NGH) for about three months of the year, in two week blocks. These are less busy services and are covered together. These consult services together receive ~1-3 consults per week.

Outpatient Clinics: First year fellows get a wide range of outpatient clinic experiences. See the table below for details. On Mondays, the first year fellows will split coverage of the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital pediatric clinic, staffed by Dr. Alisa Gotte, and the NAVA new patient clinic, staffed by Dr. Michelle Ormseth. Once a quarter, the fellow will work with Dr. Annapureddy and Dr. Jami Miller in the rheumatology/dermatology clinic. Once weekly, the first year fellow sees their own panel of patients in The Vanderbilt Clinic (TVC) and NAVA continuity clinics, staffed by dedicated clinic preceptors. When not on VUH consults, the first year fellow will see patients once weekly in NGH follow up clinic, staffed by dedicated clinic preceptors.

Second Year

Inpatient consultation: Each second year fellow covers the VUH consult service for a total of one month (two weeks blocks), usually earlier in the year to allow the first years to settle in to their new role as fellows, as well to facilitate studying for ABIM IM boards.

Each second year fellow will cover the NAVA/NGH consult services for three months, in two week blocks. 

Outpatient Clinics: The second year fellows’ clinic schedule is similar to the first year schedule with a few exceptions. The second year introduces the Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment (CELA) teaching activity, led by Dr. Susan Kroop. For more information, see the Conferences page.

Additional clinical experiences can be arranged depending on the fellows’ interest. Examples include CTD-ILD clinic with Dr. Leslie Crofford, Vasculitis Clinic with Dr. Kevin Byram, and Osteoporosis Clinic with Dr. Bobo Tanner. There are also experiences available outside of the Division of Rheumatology that can be arranged if the fellow is interested, like radiology, orthopedics, and phsical medicine and rehab.