ICU at Penn

[BassDominator]

I forget what the ICU rotation is like for anesthesia residents. Can someone refresh my memory? I know I should know this because I'll be going there, but it wasn't a deciding factor and my memory is just one big gamish. Is it open/closed? I vaguely remember something about not having to write notes.

 

[Krafty]

The PENN SICU is probably the best unit I have seen on my interview trail, as well as in general. It is a completely CLOSED unit. It is run by an Anesthesiologist -- Dr. Deutchemann who is the president of

American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (ASCCA)
http://gasnet.med.yale.edu/societies/ascca/index.html
(mission statement)
The mission of the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists is to preserve and expand the pivotal role of critical care medicine, as practice by intensivists in intensive care units within the scope of practice of anesthesiology. This will be accomplished through education, advocacy and community.

Since there is a push to get Anesthesiologists back into the units, I would think this is a great place to train. I acually spent a week in the unit. Even though anesthesia is at the intern level as far as rotation is concerned, there is a lot of mutual respect between the departments.

Call is q3, but the unit is world class, the nurses are awesome (they really know what they're doing), and the teaching is great. If one chooses to do an extra rotation (outside of the 2 required), one becomes at the fellow level. (don't know why I went third person crazy..)

Their unit is one of the reasons they were my numero uno.