Any Advice for incoming IM-CCM fellow

[ddraper420]

Thread title says it all....any advice on what to read, get comfortable with and yes even eat would be appreciated.

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[Nephro critical care]

I did my CCM fellowship pretty much knee jerk immediately after my nephrology fellowship and there is a lot of stuff I now think I could have done better. Some of these things you can’t work on until you are in fellowship and others that you can.
First is Reading: lots of good books to recommend for critical care.
1. I read Irwin and Rippe critical care. and it’s pretty reader friendly and definitely recommended. The ICU book by Marino is good too.
2. If your CCM fellowship is run by pulmonologists then it’s good to have a solid knowledge of pulmonary. West pulmonary pathophysiology is a good read.
3. A general knowledge of IM never hurts : work hard on your ABIM boards with Medstudy, MKSAP etc.
4. Look at recent critical care studies on NEJM, JAMA etc.

Schedule:
5. Make sure your CCM fellowship gives you. A good flavor of all the ICUs , MICU, tx ICU, CTICU, SICU, neuro ICU. I spent too much time in MICU and my weakness in other ICUs hurts me now

Procedures :
6. You may or may not be able to work on them based on where you are. If you are naturally gifted with hand eye coordination then you won’t have to work on it but even a klutz like me is now decent at procedures. I wouldn’t worry to much about them as you will have time in beginning of fellowship where everyone will understand you are learning.

Rest:
7. Get some rest now and don’t think too hard. Your 1st 2-3 months will be busy and it’s important to be fresh when starting a fellowship.

 

[ddraper420]

I did my CCM fellowship pretty much knee jerk immediately after my nephrology fellowship and there is a lot of stuff I now think I could have done better. Some of these things you can’t work on until you are in fellowship and others that you can.
First is Reading: lots of good books to recommend for critical care.
1. I read Irwin and Rippe critical care. and it’s pretty reader friendly and definitely recommended. The ICU book by Marino is good too.
2. If your CCM fellowship is run by pulmonologists then it’s good to have a solid knowledge of pulmonary. West pulmonary pathophysiology is a good read.
3. A general knowledge of IM never hurts : work hard on your ABIM boards with Medstudy, MKSAP etc.
4. Look at recent critical care studies on NEJM, JAMA etc.

Schedule:
5. Make sure your CCM fellowship gives you. A good flavor of all the ICUs , MICU, tx ICU, CTICU, SICU, neuro ICU. I spent too much time in MICU and my weakness in other ICUs hurts me now

Procedures :
6. You may or may not be able to work on them based on where you are. If you are naturally gifted with hand eye coordination then you won’t have to work on it but even a klutz like me is now decent at procedures. I wouldn’t worry to much about them as you will have time in beginning of fellowship where everyone will understand you are learning.

Rest:
7. Get some rest now and don’t think too hard. Your 1st 2-3 months will be busy and it’s important to be fresh when starting a fellowship.

Thank you for the advice. I do have a few ways to go as far as procedures are concerned but hopefully my final MICU rotation in residency will help. I'm working on getting better at POC-US...any courses you would recommend?

 

[Nephro critical care]

Thank you for the advice. I do have a few ways to go as far as procedures are concerned but hopefully my final MICU rotation in residency will help. I'm working on getting better at POC-US...any courses you would recommend?

There is a few different decent courses ; the CHEST course springs to mind. However I would not recommend spending especially your own money on an U/S course prior to fellowship. There is a saying
“ what the mind doesn’t know the eyes cannot see” and it would likely be better to take a course after a few months or even a year of fellowship. Your fellowship program may be ultrasound savvy too and teach you a lot of POC U/S without you having to take a course. Similarly July/ August in fellowship no one expects you to be that proficient at procedures . I had a senior fellow help me in 1st 5 lines and then I was fine.
Honestly I would work on IM/CC knowledge base and maybe enjoy life a little bit at the end of residency. You will need some rest to be ready and running for the start of fellowship.

 

[psychbender]

Thank you for the advice. I do have a few ways to go as far as procedures are concerned but hopefully my final MICU rotation in residency will help. I'm working on getting better at POC-US...any courses you would recommend?

If it's important to you, then pick a program that incorporates ultrasound into the ICU routine. You'll get far more out of integrated echo training reinforced throughout the year or three than you will a weekend course.

 

[ddraper420]

If it's important to you, then pick a program that incorporates ultrasound into the ICU routine. You'll get far more out of integrated echo training reinforced throughout the year or three than you will a weekend course.

Thank you for the advice.