The majority of training in the Surgical Critical Care fellowship is at Christiana Hospital, a 913-bed tertiary, acute care hospital and ACS-verified Level I Trauma Center, ranked in the top 15 in the Northeast for surgical volume. Christiana Hospital has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) NSQIP for ‘Meritorious’ surgical outcomes for the 6th consecutive year and recently ranked 3rd in the Philadelphia tri-state region for best hospitals by US News and World report. We have the honor of recently being ranked ‘No. 1 hospital in the nation’ for Trauma & Surgical Critical Care by the CareChex’s annual analysis of the nation’s top hospitals. Christiana Hospital Trauma & Critical Care services are staffed by 10 full time surgical intensivists/acute care surgeons and offers ample opportunity for diverse and challenging in-patient care, including operative experiences.
Christiana Hospital averages 4800 trauma evaluations and 500 trauma admissions to ICU level of care yearly. Admitted patients have a varied mechanism of injury with 6-8% penetrating, 1% burns with the remaining being predominantly blunt injury. The Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), a closed ICU model, has been nationally recognized as one of the regions only Surgical ICU Beacon Award for Excellence winners. The SICU consistently ranks in the ACS Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) top 3% of all programs for low risk adjusted mortality, low major complications and high Injury Severity Score (ISS) in our ICU population. Fellows are given ample opportunity to participate in multidisciplinary quality and performance improvement projects, protocolization of care and ICU administration.
While in the SICU, fellows also take care of critically ill patients from other surgical disciplines such as General Surgery, Thoracic, Vascular, Neurosurgery, Orthopedic, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Transplant and Surgical Oncology. Fellows can complete up to a one-month rotation in cardiovascular intensive care (CVICU) which includes Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). Mandatory one-month rotations in Neurocritical care (NCCU) and at the Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children Pediatric ICU are included in the curriculum. Elective time is also available with appropriate educational justification in areas such as Burn Critical care, Research, Quality and Performance Improvement, Acute Care Surgery, Palliative Care, Telemedicine and Peri-Operative Anesthesia.
Additional certifications opportunities include: ATLS instructor, ATOM and ASSET certification (and possible instructor status), SCCM Adult Critical Care Ultrasound and currently in development, an adult trans-thoracic and trans-esophageal echocardiography certification for the critically ill patient.