This year has been a pivotal one for Interventional Radiology training at UNC.
After a lengthy application process followed by an ACGME site visit in December 2016, we were delighted to receive confirmation that the Integrated Interventional Radiology residency at UNC was fully accredited, effective April 24, 2017. You may recall that the Integrated IR program is one of three different paths that trainees can follow in the new IR training paradigm (see diagram below). An Integrated IR residency involves a six-year curriculum, including a one-year internship (surgery is preferred), three years of the DR core curriculum and two years of IR-focused training. All of these paths were created in order to provide two years focused on IR, allowing time to emphasize training of peri-procedural patient care and to allow residents to master the wide spectrum of complex procedures now performed in IR.
The second pathway is known as the Independent IR Residency, and involves two years of training after completion of a four-year diagnostic radiology program. Altogether, this is a seven-year path. The application for this pathway was submitted in May 2017, and we will learn of the ACGME’s decision this fall.
Lastly, the Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology (ESIR), is a pathway within Diagnostic Radiology. Within the new IR Residency paradigm, having our DR program’s ESIR pathway in place mid-year 2017 is paramount. It preserves the traditional DR curriculum and requires completion of over 500 procedures across at least 12 IR or IR-like rotations over four years. If one completes DR training via the ESIR track, they qualify for “advance placement” into an Independent IR residency. Put another way, a DR graduate can enter at the second-year level and only have to complete one year of Independent IR residency, for a total of six years.
This July we will have residents in both the Integrated Residency and the ESIR pathway, as current UNC DR residents transfer and are accepted into these respective curricula. In addition, we are very excited to be in this year’s upcoming match for the Integrated Residency. We hope to have positive news this fall regarding the Independent Residency, allowing all three IR training pathways to be offered at UNC. This will ensure that UNC is poised to provide cutting-edge IR training via this new paradigm. We are now in a period of transition which will continue through 2022, as the VIR fellowships will be phased out in June, 2020,
and the new IR residencies will be phased in. We look forward to developing, expanding and refining these training programs during this exciting period of transition.