About the Program

The University of Iowa Surgical Critical Care Fellowship is a one-year, ACGME accredited program offered by the Division of Acute Care Surgery, which consists of a core curriculum in the Surgical & Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (SNICU). Upon completion of the fellowship, the fellow will be Surgical Critical Care Board eligible with the American Board of Surgery.

University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is an American College of Surgeons accredited Level 1 Trauma Center with annual trauma admission greater than 2000, an American Burn Association accredited Level 1 Burn Treatment Center, and a state-of-the-art Emergency Treatment Center as well as all specialties in medicine and their associated residency programs. The UIHC holds over 800 inpatient beds, including 128 ICU beds.

Mission

The mission of the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship is to provide an environment of education used to development technical skills and gain in-depth knowledge necessary to care for critically ill patients. Critical care fellows from anesthesiology, emergency medicine as well as surgery receive advanced clinical training in an integrated environment. This training program employs a mix of hands-on clinical experience, interactive workshops, medical simulation and didactic education.

Aims

The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship program aims to provide hands-on clinical experience and advanced instruction in the following:

Management of shock, sepsis, acute respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, acute neurological conditions and other critical illness syndromes.
Pathophysiology of critical illness, including advanced cardiopulmonary physiology, hemodynamic and neurological monitoring, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and neurophysiology.
Care of patients with multisystem organ failure, acute infection, traumatic injury and post-surgical critical illness.
Communication skills, including patient and family interaction, end-of-life cares, and care of the geriatric patient.
Mechanical ventilation, extra-corporeal life support, and point-of-care ultrasound.
ICU procedures including endotracheal intubation, central venous catheterization and chest tube placement.

The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship provides an outstanding exposure to complex surgical critical care and development of administrative skills that will allow the fellows to emerge into a leadership role upon completion.

Policy for Eligibility, Selection & Transfer at UIHC, Stipends, Disability Accommodation, etc
Sample Appointment Contract
Visa Requirements

ACGME Program Requirements

www.absurgery.org
University of Iowa Policies

Schedule Requirements

As required by the ACGME, all trainees will spend at least 8 blocks in the SNICU, and then rotate to other intensive care units which provide extended educational experiences suited to the need of the fellow. Each trainee will be required to complete a minimum of 10 blocks of time in the critical care setting, 2 blocks of time in elective unit, with one block of time reserved for vacation (3 weeks) and meetings (1 week).

In addition to the SNICU, other ICU rotations include: MICU, PICU, NICU, and CVICU.

Elective rotations include: Burn, Infectious Disease Consults, Pulmonary/Bronchoscopy, ECHO Lab, Nephrology Consult, Trauma, Emergency General Surgery, Anesthesia, Vascular Lab and Research.

Sample Block Schedule: (Each Block = 4 Weeks)

Block	Rotation
Block 1	SNICU
Block 2	Trauma/Burn
Block 3	SNICU
Block 4	MICU
Block 5	SNICU
Block 6	PICU
Block 7	SNICU
Block 8	SNICU
Block 9	SNICU
Block 10	SNICU
Block 11	SNICU
Block 12	ECHO Lab
Block 13	VAC

Education Curriculum

A robust, structured didactic curriculum is offered to create a rich educational environment, including lectures, selected readings, hands-on courses, journal club and M&M conference. Fellows are required to attend a didactic series of lectures given by SNICU staff as well as local and national experts in critical care. Fellows lead SNICU/CVICU M&M and SNICU/CVICU Journal Club monthly, and are expected to attend Department of Surgery M&M as well as Acute Care Surgery Journal Club and Acute Care Surgery Research meetings. Fellows will also participate in providing a Grand Rounds presentation for the Department of Surgery. Fellows are part of the SNICU management meeting along with all staffs involved in ICU patient care to discuss the operational business of the ICU and the issues related to patient care.

There is a wide variety of texts provided to the Surgical Critical Care fellow including the Department of Anesthesia Library and the University of Iowa Hardin Medical Library. In addition, there is a well-developed internet library of electronic textbooks and journals available at every computer within the SNICU. Also in the SNICU, there are a total of 127 titles as well as 13 journal subscriptions.

Ultrasound Course: The fellows will participate in a 2-day ultrasound course hosted by the University of Iowa.

Regional/National Conferences: The fellowship program sponsors attendance at one critical-care related meetings which could include EAST, Mattox TCCACS and Society of Critical Care Medicine annual meeting. In addition to attending a meeting, the program will provide a critical care textbook such as Surgical Critical Care and Emergency General Surgery.

Inservice Exam: Fellows take the SCCM MCCKAP exam annually.

Ecmo Elective Rotation: For fellows with an interest in ECMO, we have developed an experience that continues throughout their year of training. Early in the fellowship year, there is a formal didactic program that will introduce them to the physiology and management of ECMO patients. Throughout the year, they may participate in ECMO call, evaluating and managing patients requiring veno-venous (V-V) and veno-arterial (V-A) ECMO support. Participating fellows will also participate in the quality improvement process, helping review indications and complications at our regularly scheduled ECMO Conference.

Additional Training offered at the University of Iowa:
Fundamentals of Critical Care Support (FCCS) Course

Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Course

Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM) Course

Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET) Course

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion

The Division of Acute Care Surgery is a dedicated team whose expertise in education, research, clinical and operative experience spans the entire field of Trauma, Burn, Emergency General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. We are dedicated to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in our Division and our training programs.

Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Fellow Academic Projects

Scholarly activity is actively encouraged for fellows in the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship program. A number of research projects are currently in progress within the Acute Care Surgery Division, and a requirement for each fellow in the program is to complete at least one academic project through research or quality improvement to be presented towards the completion of training. Fellows are also asked to participate in presenting a Department of Surgery Grand Rounds.

Research & Scholarly Activity by Surgical Critical Care Fellows: