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The fellowship is a two‐year position in Veterinary Perfusion, during which the fellow will receive advanced and intensive training in cardiopulmonary bypass for open heart surgery in companion animals under the direction of an experienced perfusionist. The current open heart caseload is focused on mitral valve repair, however, a small number of cases requiring perfusion support can involve other cardiac conditions, including congenital disease. In conjunction with the faculty perfusionist, the fellow will have responsibilities of intraoperative perfusion support, and post-operative care. Post-operative patient care involves some overnight management of patients in the immediate post-operative period to support the ICU with these high-acuity cases. While the fellow will not have primary case responsibility, they will participate in pre- and post-operative management of the cases in the ICU in addition to managing the perfusion during surgery, and as needed, might assume primary case care at times to assist the surgeons. Good communication skills and teamwork are essential characteristics of a fellow, in addition to strong medical skills and training. Successful open-heart surgery cases are a product of multiservice teamwork and the fellow will be expected to work closely with cardiology, anesthesia, surgery, and ICU to ensure high quality patient care and programmatic success. As part of the program, the perfusion fellow will receive didactic simulation training to enhance clinical training and will have the opportunity to learn basic echocardiography relevant to open-heart surgery and perfusion. Opportunities to collaborate and learn from other teams in the hospital (e.g. cardiology, ECC, surgery) and physicians at the medical center (Shands UF) are available, along with the opportunity to contribute to advancement of clinical research and growth of the Open-heart Surgery Program at UF through growth of the perfusion program. The successful applicant will be hired into an Adjunct Lecturer position.
Program-specific Requirements:
- Time allowance: 2 years
- 40 fellowship in-training weeks per year spent with the perfusionist
- 2 weeks at human hospital such as UF Health Shands Hospital, shadowing human perfusionists
- Publication requirements: A minimum of one retrospective or prospective manuscript focused on perfusion submitted to a peer‐reviewed journal.
- A semi‐annual written review by the program director or perfusionist will be done
- The fellow must present at least one research or case report at national level meeting
- Maintenance of a perfusion case log to include no less than 30 cases annually for submission to the program director and faculty perfusionist at the end of the fellowship.
Journal Club/Resident Rounds/Book Club:
The fellow will participate in 20 Perfusion Journal Clubs with the perfusionist. Rounds held by other related services (surgical, anesthesia, emergency critical care, or cardiology) are open to the fellow for attendance and participation.
Caseload:
The open-heart surgery service operates approximately 30-40 weeks per year for an annual caseload of 40-50 cases.
Proposed Schedule Breakdown:
40 weeks of surgery
Monday: Planning for next day’s case. Simulation training. Journal club bimonthly (or flexible timing).
Tuesday: Provide perfusion support for OH surgery
Wednesday: Participate in debrief meeting and assist with post-operative evaluation of Tuesday’s surgery case. When 2 surgeries occur in a week, this day will also involve planning for next day’s case and simulation training.
Thursday: Provide perfusion support for OH surgery when there are 2 cases/wk
Provide overnight 1:1 technician support for post-operative care of 2nd case when there are 2 cases/wk
Friday: No scheduled duties this day when the fellow had overnight patient care
Weeks in which surgery is not performed will be used for: training (onsite with perfusionist, off-site at Shands), scholarly activity endeavors, vacation.
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