Fourth-year radiology residents have options as to which areas of interest they’d like to sample prior to diving into the depths of their respective medical careers. Many use this time to boost their proficiency in radiology subspecialties.

Many, but not all: A fellow in cardiothoracic radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine used his time to complete a four-month “mini-fellowship” within the institution’s department of quality and patient safety (QPS).

In a piece published online Aug. 17 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, Ian Drexler, MD, MBA, draws from his experience to offer six steps that any resident can take to explore his or her interests outside of clinical radiology.

1. Seek departmental and institutional support. Radiology leadership may not be thrilled over your choice of mini-fellowship, Drexel acknowledges, but it’s unwise to proceed without first winning buy-in. He writes:

“Be prepared to face pushback, but be clear about your motivations and your intention to work just as hard, if not harder, as you would on a standard clinical radiology rotation. Before deciding on my mini-fellowships, I opted to meet directly with my department’s chairman to discuss my clinical and nonclinical interests, and he gave my quality and patient safety mini-fellowship idea his full support.”

2. Set goals and expectations. Drexel suggests starting with an outline of broad objectives to aim for and tasks to complete, then going so far as to create a charter that more formally itemizes specific goals and quantifies measures of success.

“Having multiple deliverables throughout the mini-fellowship will not only keep you motivated but also will provide objective criteria by which you can be assessed when the mini-fellowship has ended. As an example, this paper was a formal part of my mini-fellowship’s expectations and is something I worked on throughout my mini-fellowship.

3. Make yourself a part of the team. Communicate by word and deed that you see the leader of the mini-fellowship division as your de facto boss, Drexel advises, in so many words.  

“[W]ork directly with the divisional leadership to ensure that you are integrated into the division just as you would expect any other full-time employee to be. Within a week of starting my mini-fellowship, I was introduced to everyone as a member of the QPS team at departmental meetings, which allowed me to meet the people I would be working with.”

4. Keep an open mind. Chances will come up to gain knowledge in areas you hadn’t previously given much thought. Take full advantage and you’ll grow in unexpected ways, Drexel suggests.   

“Though I initially planned to focus much of my mini-fellowship work on lowering hospital-associated infection rates, I discovered that I had a passion for regulatory work, which led to my involvement in a mock Joint Commission survey and subsequently to my participation in an actual Joint Commission survey.”

5. Work with challenges as they arise. Not everything is going to come up roses every day. But in mini-fellowships as in life, obstacles can be approached as opportunities, Drexel reminds.

“When I was inadvertently left off of several divisional e-mails, which made it impossible to ascertain meeting locations, I made a colleague aware of the issue, and it was promptly fixed.”

6. Network, network, network. It may be from side projects or even chance conversations that future career directions begin to take shape.

“Although I was working with the QPS division, I used my mini-fellowship to make connections with people from nursing leadership, medical affairs, and operations, which led to opportunities to participate in several hospital-wide committees.”

Drexel concludes by calling his time as a QPS mini-fellow “invaluable.”

“Before deciding on doing a mini-fellowship in the radiology subspecialty you will be focusing on for the rest of your practice,” he writes, “consider taking this last opportunity in your training to explore an area of interest outside of radiology, particularly one that will provide you with new skills and knowledge that you can bring with you as you begin your career.”