Procedures like PAD or aortic work. As you know, leaders of IR previously advocated sharing of technical knowledge with vascular surgery with the hope of working together to benefit patients.
The reality, in most institutions, did not pan out this way as IRs are all but shut off completely from PAD work. I was told that some instrumental person in development of aortic stent graft has recently lost their OR priviledge for EVAR.
I actually firmly believe that endovascular PAD work is a must have for vascular surgery because lack of such spells the death of their field, and I am not arguing for IR "take back" PAD completely, but rather develop enough competitive clinical acumen to share the pie that is PAD.
I do think, however, many conditions that previously required surgery in the acute setting (such as certain type of cholecysitis) no longer require surgery in the inpatient setting accordig to some guidelines but rather interventional treatment, and those patients should be admitted to the IR service. One of my plan as an attending would be to offer off hour admission of certain previously surgical diseases that are now days mostly managed inpatient by IR in order to relieve the pressure off my surgical colleages. I will of course coordinate their elective surgical referal when they are discharged.
I am not the only IR person who think like this. There are many of us, who think like a surgeon, trained with surgeons, and are ready to work like a surgeon to gain clinical acumen needed to manage our patients. I am even married to a surgeon, and I have a lot of respect for their sacrifice.
For example, when she was an intern, she woke up everyday at 4am, went home at 7-8pm and fell asleep next to me routinely. As IR physicians, we MUST be prepared to work this hard, or have junior residents who will work this hard to provide a clinical availability comparable to a surgical service
That's reality of what it takes to claim a "turf". Now I tell all my juniors that if they want PAD, they must work to demostrate they are capable to cover a clinical service as well as our surgical colleagues.
To the OP, as an intern you should be prepared for the eventuality of providing your own clinical management. IR isn't surgery, but it isn't radiology or medicine either. It's something in between.
Again, it's mostly useless for you to learn how to cut because our job isn't to cut. You must learn how to work in a clinic and the floor, however.
P.S. My wife always joke about how I want to steal her job or how she's in bed with the enemy, but I truly believe the best patient care can only be achieved through different services working together, with IR's presence being a must in many emerging indications.
Angiography skills stem from understanding of imaging basis of human anatomy, and are almost completely different from surgical skills.