Critical Care Didactic Curriculum

Fellows' Lecture Series

Monday, Tuesday or Friday at Noon - 1 to 2 times per week

A diverse group of guest lecturers are invited each year to speak to the fellows on core topics that are of importance to managing the critical care patient in the ICU. The fellows' lecture series aligns with the recommendations of the ACGME, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the American Board of Anesthesiology for critical care medicine education.

SICU Fellows? Journal Club

2 x per month, 12-1 p.m

The Fellow organizes and presents the article(s) for Journal Club

M & M Rounds

1 x per month, Last T, 12-1 p.m.

Fellows enter their reports of M & Ms into the SICU quality assurance (QA) database as part of the QA process, in which the fellows are actively involved. Often a case is chosen for further literature review and study, with the goal of improving practice outcomes in real clinical situations.

Neuro Conference

1 x per month, First T, 12-1 p.m.

This is a hands-on clinical case conference that presents a SICU patient, followed by a critical discussion and a neurologist conducted bedside examination of the patient.

Ethics Rounds

1 x per month, First Th, 12-1 p.m.

Discussion of medical ethics cases

Trauma Conference and Trauma Rounds

Trauma Conference meets 1 x per week, W, 5 - 6 p.m. and Trauma Rounds meets 1 x per week, T, 12-1 p.m.

At the Trauma Conference, trauma service cases are discussed with a focus that leads to a topic for expert presentation. Trauma Rounds invites guest lecturers to discuss topics relevant to surgery trauma and critical care.

Pulmonary/Anesthesia Grand Rounds (Combined Grand Rounds)

1 x per month, W, 12-1 p.m.

A pulmonary critical care fellow presents half of the conference and an anesthesia/surgical critical care fellow presents the other half. This multidisciplinary Rounds is an example of the cooperation among programs, and the rich learning that is accomplished by sharing resources among the critical care fellowships.

Anesthesia Grand Rounds

1 x per week, Th, 7-9 a.m.

Topics of interest are presented by experts in the field of Anesthesiology and its subspecialties, followed by a Clinical Case Conference.

Teaching

One primary role of critical care fellows is teaching residents and medical students.  Teaching is done at the bedside, during the course of caring for the patients, and through didactic presentations and lectures.

Research

Basic and clinical research is an impor­tant ongoing activity and a prime mission at the Mass General.  More than 80% of fellows choose to pursue an academic career at the conclusion of their fellowship.  The research tradition of the Mass General Anesthesia Critical Care program includes original research on emergency airway management, neuromuscular weakness in the ICU, epidemiology of sepsis, and management of respiratory failure. While there is limited time in the one-year fellowship to perform meaningful laboratory investigation, additional time can be arranged in one of the laboratories for such work.  Participa­tion in ongoing clinical projects is strongly encouraged.