— College of Medicine — Department of Internal Medicine — Divisions — Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine — Our Fellowships — Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship — Curriculum

Curriculum

The Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship is a three-year program that trains our fellows for successful careers.

Education is an important part of training and there is a schedule of core curriculum lectures, board review sessions, pro:con debates on clinical topics between dyads of fellows and faculty members, journal clubs, quality improvement (revised M&M) and research conferences. Simulations, didactics and resident and student teaching on clinical services are all part of the curriculum.

Our division is responsible for teaching foundational sciences to pre-clinical medical students and there are numerous small group knowledge and clinical skills sessions for fellows to facilitate as part of that course.

Fellows desiring a post-graduate certificate in clinical education may apply for the two-year Health Educators and Academic Leaders, which will require additional work outside the scope of the fellowship program.

At the completion of the three-year fellowship program, trainees are eligible to sit for Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine boards. Our five-year, first-time taker pass rate for both boards is 100 percent.

Most of our graduates have gone on to private practice but all have retained a desire to be involved in resident and student teaching based in part on their educational experience.

The mix of clinical experiences and didactics provided in this program provides excellent training for the subspecialist in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Formal Curriculum Outline

Orientation – Approximately 30 lectures/discussion sessions covering topics from Pulmonary Physiology and Ventilator Management to Clinic Billing to Interpretation of diagnostic studies.
COPD – Nine lectures/discussion sessions
Cystic Fibrosis – Five lectures/discussion sessions
Asthma – Seven lectures/discussion sessions
Pleural Disease – Four lectures/discussion sessions
Cancer Evaluation and Management – Six lectures/discussion sessions
Lung Injury – Seven lectures/discussion sessions
Interstitial Lung Disease – Six lectures/discussion sessions
Lung Transplantation – Six lectures/discussion sessions
Multisystem Interactions – Five lectures/discussion sessions
Pulmonary Vascular Disease – Eight lectures/discussion sessions
Pulmonary Infections – 10 lectures/discussion sessions
Sleep Medicine – Seven lectures/discussion sessions
NeuroCritical Care – Seven lectures/discussion sessions
Miscellaneous Pulmonary Topics – Six lectures/discussion sessions
Miscellaneous Critical Care Topics – 16 lectures/discussion sessions

Reading Roundtable

Our fellows select and discuss a journal article of interest in a monthly session attended by faculty and fellows. The purpose of the session is for fellows to learn to critique the study design and methods used to advance clinical care of patients and how the article might alter current practice.

Tumor Board

This optional weekly conference is attended by the interventional pulmonologists and the fellow on the Advance Procedures rotation. It is a multidisciplinary conference for oncologists, pathologists, pulmonologists, radiologists and surgeons to discuss evaluation and management of patients with suspected or known cancer.

Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Grand Rounds

This conference occurs weekly and is presented by faculty, fellows on research and outside speakers on a variety of topics of interest to members of the division. On a quarterly basis, a Morbidity and Mortality Conference is presented. The faculty and fellows collaboratively complete an electronic Ishikawa Diagram to define the root cause of issues impacting the outcome and outline the steps to correct those issues.

Fellow Case Conference

One fellow is assigned each week to present an interesting case outlining evaluation and management. This may be a case where evaluation and management may not be clear and provides the audience an opportunity to offer suggestions for discussion. A review of the diagnosis and proper management is often presented.

Educational Sessions

A formal curriculum is delivered through a series of lectures and discussion sessions once or twice a week during the year for all fellows and four to five days a week during the summer for first year fellows. The curriculum is taught on a two-year cycle covering a large variety of topics in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.