Cincinnati Children’s serves as the primary children’s hospital for Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Eastern Indiana as well as serving as a quaternary national and international referral center for many subspecialty medical and surgical teams. The breadth of the clinical experience at Cincinnati Children’s covers the full range of life-threatening medical disorders. We are the primary trauma center in Southwestern Ohio and routinely care for infant, school-age children, and adolescents with severe trauma. We care for the full array of patients receiving organ and bone marrow transplantation, our surgeons are active with liver, small bowel, kidney, heart, and lung transplants. Additionally, we care for children who receive many unique surgeries performed by Cincinnati Children's surgeons including complex airway reconstruction, cardiothoracic and neurosurgery, genitourinary, and craniofacial reconstruction.
Our PICU cares for patients on all forms of extracorporeal support including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), molecular adsorbent recirculation system (MARS), ventricular assist devices (VAD), and many other services. Of the over 2750 admissions yearly, approximately 1/3 are surgical and 2/3 are medical patients. The Cardiac Intensive Care unit admits over 750 patients yearly. Our program provides an unmatched clinical experience to prepare fellows for academic careers in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.
During the three-year fellowship, fellows complete 12 four-week blocks of clinical service in the PICU, one four-week block with anesthesiology and four four-week blocks in the CICU with the remaining 22 blocks of the fellowship dedicated to research and scholarly activity and elective time, if desired.
Schedule by Year:
| Four-Week Blocks |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| PICU Service |
6
|
4
|
2
|
| CICU Service |
1
|
2
|
1
|
| Research |
5
|
7
|
10
|
| Anesthesia |
1
|
|
|
As shown above, during the first year, five blocks are devoted to fellows’ research interests. In the second year of training, fellows spend six blocks on clinical service in the PICU/CCU, with the remainder of time spent in research pursuits. The third year is tailored to the individual needs of each fellow, but includes at least nine to 10 blocks of research and two blocks as a junior-level attending in the PICU. A strong emphasis is placed on independent decision making by the fellows, especially as they gain experience.
Fellows perform in-house call every fourth night when “on service” and every seventh night when “off service.” The ICU is covered by two teams, consisting of one attending, two fellows, four residents, one advanced practice registered nurse, and a full complement of social work, nutrition, pharmacy, Child Life and pastoral care support. Each night is covered by two fellows and two residents, one advanced practice registered nurse, and one in house attending.
