Overview
The Critical Care Medicine fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is at the epicenter of a rapidly growing, cutting-edge critical care enterprise. While UAB Critical Care has always excelled in education and clinical training, we continue to create opportunities for fellows to gain invaluable knowledge and experience in a variety of areas.
The Critical Care Medicine Fellowship consists of one year or two years of postgraduate training following completion of Anesthesiology residency or Emergency Medicine residency, respectively. The fellowship program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and has five fellowship positions each year.
Fellows spend at least nine months immersed in our high acuity intensive care units that provide a comprehensive clinical learning environment. Fellows can tailor elective rotations to specific areas of clinical or research interest.
UAB Hospital Intensive Care Units
UAB Hospital is a quaternary care hospital. It is largest hospital system in the state and largest employer in the city of Birmingham. With 1,207 beds, it is the eighth largest hospital nationally and ranks among the top three highest acuity patient populations in the country. The patient referral area covers most of the Southeastern region.
Since the late 1990s, the UAB Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine has had primary directorship of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). The SICU team is a multidisciplinary collaboration between various surgical services, and the faculty are dedicated to fellows' education, research, and clinical maturity. It is a 26-bed multispecialty acute patient population providing postoperative care following elective, emergency, or transplant surgery, and critical care following surgical complications.
The Neurological ICU (NICU) service is staffed by anesthesiologists/intensivists who have specialized training in the intricacies of neurosurgical and neurologic diseases and employ the latest technologies to treat them. They work very collaboratively with the departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology to deliver the highest possible quality of care. Fellows who rotate in the NICU will learn from some of the best minds in the field.
UAB critical care fellows will rotate in the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit (CICU). The CICU consists of 24 beds, and the faculty and staff work collaboratively with UAB's Heart and Vascular Center, the Advanced Heart Failure Center, heart and lung transplantation, and extracorporeal support (ECMO) programs to provide highly complex patient-oriented care. The CICU faculty have developed a robust and dynamic curriculum designed to maximize learning and allow for detailed bedside teaching and acquisition of valuable procedural skills.
Education
The program aims to generate excellent clinicians ready to enter any practice on graduation and can manage a broad range of critically ill patient populations. There are multiple education opportunities to take advantage of every week.
- Weekly Core Curriculum lectures series includes speakers within our division of critical care medicine
- Weekly multi-disciplinary critical care lecture series that includes speakers from various disciplines that offer cutting edge information on critical care medicin
- Weekly departmental Conference for Quality Initiatives offers a forum for discussing patient safety and opportunities for improving the delivery of health care
- Monthly Anesthesiology Fellows lecture series to cover topics that include practice management, evaluating evidence-based literature, tools for education, providing meaningful feedback, and having difficult conversations
- Monthly Journal Club allows our faculty and fellows to engage in discussing the most current literature
We are constantly evolving our Point of Care ultrasound curriculum to prepare fellows for board certification in the Advanced Critical Care Echocardiography and POCUS. We offer a one-month rotation dedicated to the focus on ultrasound skill acquisition.
Research
The UAB Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine is ranked among the top 10 Anesthesiology departments in NIH funding. We offer many basic science and clinical research opportunities and mentorship. Learn More >>
Our Mission
UAB's fundamental goal is to be the preferred academic medical center for patients and their families. Our growth and forward-thinking approach to the challenges and opportunities for the future will give our fellows a distinct advantage as our practice evolves.
The Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine fellowship strives to transform the field of critical care medicine by generating and translating knowledge into superior clinical practice and education. We will provide the highest quality compassionate care to our patients using innovative practice models and an interdisciplinary approach to medical care, discover new knowledge through cutting-edge research, educate the next generation of leaders in critical care medicine, and be effective leaders within our profession.
More Details
Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Applicant Information
Critical Care Faculty
Critical Care Faculty Publications
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