Curriculum
In accordance with requirements set forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the didactic curriculum and clinical skills that a Fellow is expected to master are categorized into six core competencies:
- Patient Care
- Medical Knowledge
- Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills
- Professionalism
- Systems-Based Practice
These competencies serve as a general, but not exhaustive, guide to the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors that should be demonstrable over the course of the fellowship program.
The fellow will acquire advanced knowledge of essential aspects of critical care, particularly as they related to the management of patients with hemodynamic instability, multiple system organ failure and complex co-existing medical problems. These aspects include, but are not limited to:
- Cardiorespiratory Resuscitation
- Physiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and therapy of disorders of the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, neurological, endocrine, musculoskeletal and immune systems, as well as infectious diseases
- Metabolic, nutritional and endocrine effects of critical illness
- Hematologic and coagulation disorders
- Critical obstetric and gynecological disorders
- Trauma, thermal, electrical and radiation injuries
- Inhalation and immersion injuries
- Monitoring and medical instrumentation
- Critical pediatric surgical conditions
- Pharmakokinetics and dynamics of drug metabolism and excretion in critical illness
- Ethical and legal aspects of surgical critical care
- Principles and techniques of administration and management
- Biostatistics and experimental design
Fellowship training activities generally consist of the following:
- Attendance and participation in morning rounds. The fellow is expected to provide input regarding patient care, and to assist in resident teaching.
- Continued care of the patient following rounds, under the supervision of the attending, incorporating patient care with education of the residents.
- Participation in fellow-faculty conferences: journal club and multidisciplinary critical care presentation in a grand rounds format. These are respectively conducted the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Other lectures and conferences may be added during the academic year.
- Attendance of multidisciplinary critical care core lecture series (schedule provided). If a conflict with patient care arises, the attending will provide clinical care coverage so that the fellow can attend the lecture.
- Preparation of at least two presentations. These presentations may be given as an SICU resident lecture, Thursday trauma lecture, or as a Surgical Grand Rounds.
- Participation in administrative meetings, i.e., Protocol, TQI and Special Care meetings. This will provide exposure to quality assurance activities, as well as other activities related to SICU administration.
- Attendance at monthly Trauma and SICU faculty meetings to discuss ongoing issues, resident evaluations, and related administrative/ professional matters.
- Interaction with the clinical trials group during regularly scheduled research meetings, and informally, as patients are screened and entered into clinical trials. Participation in at least one research project is encouraged, with the goal of publication, and/or presentation at a national meeting.
Daily, supervised training is supplemented with independent reading. The fellow is expected to supplement didactic learning experiences with independent learning, including, but not limited to materials provided in the independent reading modules. Modules are periodically updated, and additional modules are being developed.
Conferences
• SICU Multidisciplinary Core Lecture Series (click to download PDF)
• Fellows Conference – multidisciplinary case presentations (monthly) (click to download PDF)
• Resident Trauma Conference (weekly)
• Critical Care Journal Club (monthly) (click to download PDF)
• SICU Morbidity & Mortality Conference (monthly) (click to download PDF)
