Thyroid Screening and Fine Needle Aspiration Clinic:

-Goals and Objectives:
a) Patient Care- Patients seen in this clinic are screened for the presence of thyroid nodules. If necessary, fine needle aspiration and thyroid ultrasonography are performed within the context of the clinic. 

b) Education- Endocrine fellows are trained to assess and manage ambulatory patients with nodular thyroid disease.  Subspecialty trainees gain experience with thyroid palpation, performance of thyroid fine needle aspiration and thyroid ultrasonography. Thyroid aspirates are subsequently reviewed at Thyroid Cytology Conference. This is a dual specialty conference where trainees are introduced to cytologic interpretation and the concept of clinical-pathologic correlation.

-Teaching Methodology:
Patient-based, mentored assessment of historical findings, physical examination and development of a diagnostic and/or therapeutic plan. Each patient is seen and examined by a faculty attending.  Trainees are instructed on the techniques of fine needle aspiration and thyroid ultrasonography.  Trainees are assisted to varying degrees until they attain the expertise to perform the procedure on their own. All invasive procedures are performed under attending supervision. In the context of patient care, diagnostic and therapeutic issues are discussed with reference to the literature.

-Method of Evaluation:
All subspecialty residents are evaluated biannually.  Each resident is required to maintain a log of all procedures performed, including aspiration results.