Curriculum Overview

Clinical Care

The University of Michigan Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) has 30 beds for critically ill children and supports over 1500 admissions per year. Michigan's PICU has a catchment area of the state of Michigan and surrounding Midwest. Additionally, we serve as a referral center for many subspecialty surgical teams nationally and internationally. PICU fellows serve as transport medical command for critically ill children transported by Michigan Survival Flight.

Our fellows gain hands-on patient care and learn to become leaders of multidisciplinary teams. Further, our fellows are exposed to the most advanced technology to support the most critically ill children, including CRRT, TPE, multiple modes of mechanical ventilation, and 3D printed bio-reabsorbed airway splints. And of course, our fellows get hands-on training in ECMO from the pioneers who developed it and continue to advance the technology. Fellows are trained to perform central venous catheterization, arterial catheterization, bronchoscopy, and advanced and difficult airway management.

Through rotations in the PICU, our 20-bed cardiothoracic ICU, anesthesia, and with our palliative care team, we know our fellows will be leaders in clinical care.

Education

The Associate Director of Education, Stephen Gorga, MD, MSc, has generated an adaptive curriculum that addresses the common needs and unique wants of the PICU fellows. The curriculum is designed as a robust but versatile way to teach core critical care topics to all types of learners.

Simulation

  • Intensive high-fidelity simulation is provided during the first year orientation with longitudinal skill refinement throughout fellowship
  • Monthly case-based simulation education curriculum
  • Access to the Clinical Simulation Center, including the iSIM lab - a 24 hour independent skill lab 
  • Monthly Point-of-Care ultrasound training

Didactics

Dynamic and robust curriculum of topics including over 3 protected hours of weekly didactic, research, and case-based conferences.

Landmark Article, Board Review, Case Conference, Didactic, Research, M&M, Sim - Fundamental knowledge, EBM, Foundational Medicine, Practical Skills

Fellow Book Club

Fellow coordinated group with independent reading of primary critical care textbook and landmark articles followed by bi-monthly review and discussion of material.

Research   

The Associate Director of Research, Erin Carlton, MD, MSc, helps guide fellows through the research process in addition to their research mentor and scholarly oversight committee.

Fellows are expected to choose a research project that aligns with their own interests. Our fellows have been successful in clinical, translational, basic science and educational, quality improvement and patient safety research projects.

Presentations at national conferences are supported by the division. Recently fellows have presented at local and national conferences including Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), Pediatric Academic Society (PAS), American Heart Association (AHA), American Thoracic Society (ATS), and the Critical Care Colloquium (CCC). 

For more information about Fellow Research, visit Research Overview.