Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Education of a surgical critical care fellow requires graduated responsibility for decision making in patient care. The goal of our program is to maximize the educational experience for our fellows while maintaining a focus on patient safety and quality patient care. The attending faculty member, who is ultimately responsible for the overall care of the patient, monitors this progressive independence in our fellows. As fellows progress throughout the program they are allowed increasing independent responsibility for carrying out their own patient management decisions, with indirect supervision and oversight.

Our patient census includes a large variety of patients from all walks of surgical practice. Our trauma service admits more than 3,500 patients annually including 800 to the SICU. Our transplant service performs more than 500 solid organ cases annually, more than 100 of whom are managed acutely by the surgical intensivists. In addition, our busy emergency general surgery, surgical oncology, vascular surgery, and otolaryngology services regularly admit cases for ICU management. Time on the Cardiothoracic ICU service, Neurocritical Care service, and Pulmonary Critical Care service supplement the experience. Elective time may be spent learning about any area of critical care practice, including anesthesiology, infectious diseases, nephrology, surgical nutrition support, echocardiography and burn surgery. All fellows receive formal training in critical care ultrasound. Most experiences may be obtained at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. In addition, our numerous collaborations with other institutions allow for elective experiences elsewhere, if desired.

The Surgical Critical Care Fellow learns from our staff in the Division of Acute Care and Regional General Surgery. The Department of Surgery has also forged a relationship with the Departments of Anesthesia and Internal Medicine, for a collaborative, comprehensive fellow learning experience. Educational experiences are supplemented by monthly journal clubs and ICU mortality and morbidity conferences, weekly ICU fellow conferences, and several research collaborative meetings.

About Us

University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is a 566‐bed facility that ranks among the finest academic medical centers in the United States. Frequently cited in publications listing the nation’s best health care providers, UW Hospital and Clinics is recognized as a national leader in fields such as cancer treatment, pediatrics, ophthalmology, surgical specialties and organ transplantation. UW Hospital and Clinics is independent and non‐profit, receiving no state funding except Medicaid reimbursement. With more than 1,200 UW Health physicians and 85 outpatient clinics, UW Hospital and Clinics also offers six intensive care units (trauma and life support, pediatric, cardiac, cardiothoracic, burn, neurosurgery) with 83 total beds. UW Hospital and Clinics is one of only two organizations in Wisconsin with designated Level One adult and pediatric trauma centers. Adjacent to UW Hospital and Clinics is the American Family Children’s Hospital, UW Health’s complete children’s medical and surgical center with a pediatric intensive care unit, an internationally recognized transplant surgery program, a children’s cancer center, and a family‐friendly atmosphere.

Our Division of Acute Care and Regional General Surgery consist of over fifteen full-time faculty members with more than 60 years of teaching experience in this specialty. The clinical time on surgical critical care may be supplemented with an additional year of academic development and acute care surgery: working with our faculty to better prepare for a career in academic surgery. Our faculty has copious experience in basic and clinical sciences and, in particular, in Health Services Research. This supplemental experience may culminate in a Masters in Science or Certificate degree through the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as per candidate needs.

Contact

For questions about the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship, please contact:

Michaela Gombar
Graduate Medical Education Program Manager
(608) 263-9419
gombar@surgery.wisc.edu