General Information
The ACGME-accredited Anesthesiology and Anesthesiology/Emergency Medicine Critical Care Fellowship
Program accepts one fellow each year on a competitive basis. The fellowship is multi-disciplinary with curriculum consisting of rotations through surgical, trauma,
medical, neuro, burn, and cardiovascular ICUs.
What Makes Our Program Unique?
- Anesthesia Critical Care board pathway: The two-year fellowship is sponsored by the Department of Anesthesiology. Graduates of the program are eligible to sit for the Anesthesia Critical Care board exam. The curriculum is based off the typical ACGME Anesthesia CCM program. These core requirements are spread across the two-year period and interspersed
with dedicated ultrasound months, electives, and emergency medicine months. This
approach allows a wide variety of learning opportunities while helping to maintain
core emergency medicine skills and an appropriate work-life balance throughout a demanding
fellowship.
- Integrated and concurrent clinical ultrasound fellowship: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an invaluable tool for both emergency
medicine physicians and intensivists alike. In order to fully prepare our fellows
in the field of POCUS, our program features a complete second fellowship in clinical ultrasound, performed concurrently with critical care training and spread across the two year
period. In addition to the critical care boards, our graduates will also be eligible
to take the clinical ultrasound board exam.
- Comprehensive training in all areas of Critical Care and Burn Care: Augusta University Medical Center is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, Comprehensive
Cardiac Center, and Comprehensive Stroke Center. We feature dedicated medical, surgical,
trauma, neurosurgical, cardiac, and cardiothoracic surgery ICUs, in addition to pediatric
and neonatal ICUs. Our fellows also rotate through the largest burn center in the
United States, which is located here in Augusta. Our fellowship offers an extensive
range of opportunities, but still provides enough flexibility for fellows to focus
on their areas of interest.
- Emergency Critical Care Center (ED-ICU): The Emergency Department at Augusta University is home to one of the few dedicated
ED-ICUs in the country. With seven beds currently and plans to expand to 15 beds
total, it will also be one of the largest. This unit specializes in providing advanced
resuscitation in the ED and ensuring that high quality critical care is consistently
provided to patients from the very beginning of their hospitalization. A dedicated
ED-ICU offers multiple training advantages to emergency medicine critical care fellows.
Following completion of the program, the fellows qualify for the American Board of Anesthesiology examination certifying: Added Fellow Qualifications in Anesthesiology Critical Care.
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Core Curriculum
Fellows are expected to attend and actively participate in all anesthesiology department
conferences. They present complex cases at M&M conferences and are prepared to contribute
to the discussion of cases presented by faculty. Anesthesiology Critical Care (ACC)
fellows are responsible for medical student and junior resident education through
daily bedside rounds and direct supervision of care and will also participate as instructors
in FCCS workshops.
A publishable research project and/or a grand rounds presentation is expected prior
to graduation. Each fellow serves as a member of the Medical Center ICU committee
during their fellowship and participates in Quality Improvement projects.
ACC training is provided at the Augusta University Medical Center, the region's only Level I Trauma Center. As a fellow, you will participate in simulation
training at the Interdisciplinary Simulation Center on a regular basis. Fellows also rotate in the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, the designated Southeast Regional Burn Center and a part of the Georgia Trauma Care
Network.
Didactics
- Daily morning and afternoon bedside rounds
- Multidisciplinary Fellows' didactic conference
- Critical care teaching conferences
- Departmental and multidisciplinary grand rounds
- Morbidity and mortality conferences
- Critical care ultrasound workshops
- Fundamental Critical Care Support workshops
Rotations
Fellows rotate in several of the ICUs at the Augusta University Medical Center and
at Doctor’s Hospital. Specific orientation to each unit will take place during the
first few days of the rotation. The individual units and specialty include:
| Surgical/Cardiothoracic ICU |
12 beds |
≈ 7 months |
| Trauma ICU |
12 beds |
≈ 1 month |
| Neuroscience ICU |
10 beds |
≈ 1 month |
| MICU |
10 beds |
≈ 1 month |
| Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctor’s Hospital |
|
≈ 1 month |
| CT Anesthesia/Echocardiography (elective) |
|
≈ 1 month |
Electives
Elective rotations include:
- Nephrology
- Infectious disease
- Concentrated training in ultrasound and TEE/TTE
Evaluation
Fellows are evaluated by faculty on a monthly basis with regular written and direct
feedback. They also have a bi-annual simulation scenario with multidisciplinary evaluation
as a part of the required Milestone evaluations. Fellows meet regularly with the program
director to go over their portfolio.
We strictly follow ACGME guidelines to not exceed an 80-hour work week.
