Department of Medicine
Connecting Tec h n olog y, Educ ation a n d D iscov e r y w i t h H u m a n i s m i n M e d i ci ne
Vol. 2 Issue 3 July 2013
Education: Pulmonary Division
Pulmonary specialty training is arduous. It requires four years of medical school followed by three to four years of Internal Medicine residency and then two to four years of Pulmonary and Critical Care training. Fellows must assimilate an extensive fund of knowledge on a broad range of topics, including COPD, lung cancer, pneumonia, asthma, interstitial lung diseases, pulmonary vascular disease, cystic fibrosis, sleep medicine, pulmonary rehabilitation, chest radiology, and critical care medicine, to name a few. To complement this broad curriculum, they must become adept at a variety of procedures necessary to diagnose and treat diseases of the respiratory system. Additionally, fellows are expected to be involved in research, teach residents and students, present interesting cases, and publish under the mentorship of their faculty. The results are impressive. This program, one of four in Tennessee, has graduated six fellows beginning with the first class which finished in 2010. All fellows have mastered the required knowledge base as evidenced by a 100% board examination pass rate. Each fellow has added clinical research, publications, and presentations at national meetings to their experience. Several graduates have been accepted into highly respected, competitive Critical Care fellowships. All are currently practicing Pulmonary Medicine, with half the graduates currently associated with an academic institution. By their own acknowledgement, the fellows have been very satisfied with their training experience. They often cite the diverse interests of a gifted pulmonary faculty as a strength of the program. Dr. Dudney credits the success to the quality of applicants, the untiring dedication and talent of the division’s faculty, and the support of both the Graduate School of Medicine and University Health Systems in fostering an environment of discovery. She states, “While the effort required to develop a new training program was substantial, the rewards of watching these young physicians make their journey of personal discovery and develop into highly qualified pulmonary subspecialists have been immense.”
Program Director, Tina Dudney, MD, and Associate Program Director, Michael McCormack, MD, pictured with pulmonary fellows in the bronchoscopy suite
The philosopher Socrates taught by asking questions. In this way, his students were given the opportunity for personal discovery, which enhanced their ability to acquire and retain knowledge. This approach to teaching is embraced by the faculty in the Pulmonary/Critical Care Division at the Graduate School of Medicine (GSM). In addition to maintaining a robust clinical practice in a competitive marketplace, Tina Dudney, MD, Program Director of the Pulmonary Disease Fellowship, and Division Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and her talented colleagues have integrated teaching into their work culture. The history of progressive academic achievement of the Pulmonary Division at the GSM naturally led to the development of a Pulmonary Disease Fellowship. Dr. Dudney and her faculty spent several years laying the foundation for this training program before receiving the accreditation needed to accept their first class of two fellows in 2008. The collective goal was to provide fellows with a learning experience of the highest quality, which would allow them to be successful either in the private practice of general pulmonary medicine or in an academically focused environment.
Points of View
Rajiv Dhand, M.D., Chair
Over the past 35 years of training medical students, residents and fellows, I have had the privilege of experiencing the fulfillment of trainees’ growth to become independent, competent, and outstanding clinicians and consultants. One of the rhetorical questions that I ask my students is to think of three people, other than parents or relatives, who have had a major influence on shaping their lives. The next question I pose to them is how many of these people were teachers. We cannot underestimate the influence teachers have on young people’s minds
and the awesome feeling of reward in shaping their future. A few years ago, one of my former students--let’s just call him “Brad”--approached me at the American Thoracic Society conference. Brad reminded me that he had done a pulmonary rotation with me some years ago. As we talked, I recalled that he had been in an MD/PhD program and that he was interested in Hematology/Oncology. When I questioned him about it, Brad informed me that my memory served me well, but after his pulmonary rotation he had decided to change career paths and was now a pulmonary and critical care fellow. I vividly recall the goose bumps I got when Brad revealed that he had chosen my specialty. I felt humbled by Brad’s decision, yet this was probably one of the most gratifying moments of my life as a teacher. Many teachers will recall similar experiences, and there can be no substitute for the uplifting feeling of contributing to the career development of one’s students in a meaningful way. 1