Program Mission
The mission of the Medical Toxicology fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) is to improve the care of poisoned patients in Iowa and beyond by training the next generation of toxicologists with a high-volume clinical service in a hospital system that offers uniquely broad opportunities which will allow them to explore and define their own niche. Our mission aligns with the tripartite mission of UIHC, which encompasses excellence in clinical care, research, and education.
The development of clinical expertise will improve the care provided to poisoned patients at UIHC and the surrounding region. The educational component of our fellowship will lay the groundwork for continued lifelong learning, but will also improve the education that the fellows can subsequently provide for colleagues throughout the region. The research that our fellowship produces will help advance the science of medicine and the discipline of Medical Toxicology.
Program Aims
Aim 1: Cultivate the development of clinical skills necessary to provide excellent medical care to our patients. The foundation of our program is our busy bedside consultation service at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) which receives over 900 unique consults per year, including the most complex poisonings in the region. UIHC has a wide referral base, encompassing most of Iowa and portions of the surrounding states with many of our patients coming from rural and underserved communities. As our fellows will spend most of their time on this service, our large and diverse patient population will ensure a comprehensive experience managing a wide variety of patients with a wide variety of toxicologic diagnoses. With the extensive clinical cases and other educational opportunities, our program will prepare fellows to provide world-class clinical expertise to our patients, families, and communities.
Aim 2: Provide an environment that will produce high quality educators. The toxicology program provides medical education to a wide range of audiences at all stages of medical education. Our service has rotators from the medical school, the College of Pharmacy, and the Physician Assistant program. The rotation is a required rotation for Emergency Medicine residents, but we also have residents from Pharmacy, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics. We also have fellows from other specialties, including Critical Care and Addiction Medicine. We provide daily didactics for our rotators along with bedside teaching. In addition to the education that we provide to our rotators, we also provide other didactic lectures throughout the hospital and throughout the state. Fellows would be expected to take on more of this teaching role as the progress through the fellowship. This will provide ample opportunities for our fellows to hone their skills at educating the next generation of healthcare providers.
Aim 3: Foster scientific curiosity and a firm foundation in the fundamental skills of research and the critical appraisal of the literature. We want to prepare our fellows for the lifelong learning that comes along with a career in medical toxicology. The extensive research infrastructure at UIHC and in the Department of Emergency Medicine will support a fertile learning environment for a fellow. While completing scholarly projects and collaborating with our epidemiologists, statisticians, and other staff, our fellows will gain a solid foundation that they can use to continue to critically analyze medical literature and contribute to the advancement of care for the poisoned patient.
