Advanced Colorectal Fellowship

This one-year fellowship provides fellows with a thorough and comprehensive approach by use of da Vinci robots in robotic colon and rectal surgery in addition to open, laparoscopic, and endoscopic equipment for surgery.

The program is currently undergoing the accreditation process through the Fellowship Council.

Clinical and operative experience

Fellows will gain clinical and operative experience at MultiCare hospitals in the South Sound region. This primarily involves Tacoma General Hospital, but may also include Good Samaritan Hospital, Allenmore Hospital, Auburn Medical Center, and Covington Medical Center. These hospitals are equipped with da Vinci robots , laparoscopic and endoscopic equipment allowing for advanced minimally invasive surgeries and are most commonly used by our surgical teams for their most complex cases. Additionally, the nursing and technical staff at these facilities have proficiency in supporting the surgeons in their daily work. We expect the fellow to participate fully in surgeries, quality improvement and inter-disciplinary education in these hospitals.

The experience will be provided under the supervision of four primary surgeons representing the subspecialty of colorectal surgery. The team is led by our Program Director, Laila Rashidi, MD, FACS, FASCRS, and Associate Program Director, Gabriela Vargas, MD, MS, FASC, FASCRS. Each surgeon is fellowship-trained, clinically active and has demonstrated skills in research and scholarly activity.

Early during the training period, the fellow will act as the assistant surgeon. As skill increases the fellow will graduate to the role of primary surgeon under supervision.

The fellow will become familiar with laparoscopic, endoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery through the use of robotic training equipment, followed by assisting faculty with their cases. As the fellow gains appropriate knowledge, skills and experience they will perform operations as primary surgeon using the robot.

The clinical experience is a key element of the fellowship. Preoperative decision making and surgical planning will contribute to forming the fellow’s judgment. These cases will be supervised by faculty and clinical decisions will be informed by the attending’s experience. Planning for surgical cases will occur collaboratively.

Postoperative experience is also crucial to the development of a surgeon. A deep understanding of normal and abnormal postoperative courses will enable the fellow to quickly identify complications and intervene. All patients requiring an unexpected return to the OR will be reviewed by the fellow and faculty. The fellow may also be asked to present these cases to the Peer Review Committee of the medical staff.

Fellows will have supervision in the clinic, however given that the fellow has already completed a surgical residency and is board-eligible or board-certified, clinic supervision will typically be indirect. Particularly complex or atypical cases may have direct supervision by faculty to support optimal patient outcomes.