Upmc ccm

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jeesapeesa

jeesapeesa

anesthesiologist southern california
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so what's so great about it? i've heard alot about how the place takes EM, IM, Surgical, and Anesthesiologists for their CC fellowship, but i would just like to hear why they are supposedly one of the best from someone who's from there.
 
CBrack said:
Review this and look over their website.
If you have any questions please feel free to post or e-mail me directly.


http://www.ccm.upmc.edu/CCM_Annual_Report_2008.pdf
Click to expand...

Okay, so I've heard great things about UPitt's CCM programs, that they are huge into SIRS/Sepsis and cutting edge research, but reviewing that PDF was a whole new perspective!
I'm extremely impressed.
As a newly minted R1, I'm unsure of my future, but Pulm/CC is at the top of my list. How competitive are we talking for a UPitt fellowship match?
I think I'd be willing to put up with the NE winters again for that experience.
 
subtle1epiphany said:
Okay, so I've heard great things about UPitt's CCM programs, that they are huge into SIRS/Sepsis and cutting edge research, but reviewing that PDF was a whole new perspective!
I'm extremely impressed.
As a newly minted R1, I'm unsure of my future, but Pulm/CC is at the top of my list. How competitive are we talking for a UPitt fellowship match?
I think I'd be willing to put up with the NE winters again for that experience.
Click to expand...

The PDF you are referring to is not the Pulm/CC program (they are world leaders in their own right, mostly for pulm) but the Critical Care Department. UPMC is the only academic Critical Care Department in the country. This fellowship is for 1 or 2 yrs of pure critical care training, depending on your base training. It is a very large program, so the competitiveness is what you might expect, but not unattainable.

If you want to do Pulm/CCM then, you need to apply to another program at Pitt. That program is much smaller. I'm not sure how competitive it is, but if I remember correctly, it is rather competitive. Traditional 3 yr fellowship with a LOT of research.

Both are excellent programs, you just need to decide if you want to do pulm along with CCM or will you be satisfied with CCM only.
 
KGUNNER1 said:
The PDF you are referring to is not the Pulm/CC program (they are world leaders in their own right, mostly for pulm) but the Critical Care Department. UPMC is the only academic Critical Care Department in the country. This fellowship is for 1 or 2 yrs of pure critical care training, depending on your base training. It is a very large program, so the competitiveness is what you might expect, but not unattainable.

If you want to do Pulm/CCM then, you need to apply to another program at Pitt. That program is much smaller. I'm not sure how competitive it is, but if I remember correctly, it is rather competitive. Traditional 3 yr fellowship with a LOT of research.

Both are excellent programs, you just need to decide if you want to do pulm along with CCM or will you be satisfied with CCM only.
Click to expand...

Hello,

I have a query for everyone involved in Critical Care. I will complete my pulmonary fellowship in 2012. Got 2 critical care offers- UPMC-Pittsburg and Rhode ISland- Miriam hospital.

PLease advise as people tell me there is high drop ou rate from UPMC

Thanks
 
drdev said:
Hello,

I have a query for everyone involved in Critical Care. I will complete my pulmonary fellowship in 2012. Got 2 critical care offers- UPMC-Pittsburg and Rhode ISland- Miriam hospital.

PLease advise as people tell me there is high drop ou rate from UPMC

Thanks
Click to expand...

What a "high" drop out rate? It's the best critical care in the country. Man up and do it, if you've got the chance to.
 
jdh71 said:
What a "high" drop out rate? It's the best critical care in the country. Man up and do it, if you've got the chance to.
Click to expand...

I've heard this rumor too with a wide range of guesses on what that number is, if you're afraid of hard work, it might not be the place for you
 
Hernandez said:
I've heard this rumor too with a wide range of guesses on what that number is, if you're afraid of hard work, it might not be the place for you
Click to expand...

I just wonder how crazy it can be? Don't they take like 20 something CC fellows a year (+/- the other service fellows taking some rotations)? I assume a place like UPMC has residents on all or at least most of the services, seems that overnight/weekend call would be pretty well spread out. I know they've got something 100+ ICU beds all told with all of their different ICUs.

Anyway, I think I'd definitely sacrifice to sit at the feet of the ICU gods for a year. But that's just me. I might be a bit of a workaholic though (I don't want to live at the hospital . . . but I could be talked into doing it for a year, I think)
 
jdh71 said:
I just wonder how crazy it can be? Don't they take like 20 something CC fellows a year (+/- the other service fellows taking some rotations)? I assume a place like UPMC has residents on all or at least most of the services, seems that overnight/weekend call would be pretty well spread out. I know they've got something 100+ ICU beds all told with all of their different ICUs.

Anyway, I think I'd definitely sacrifice to sit at the feet of the ICU gods for a year. But that's just me. I might be a bit of a workaholic though (I don't want to live at the hospital . . . but I could be talked into doing it for a year, I think)
Click to expand...

Actually, no residents . You are by yourself 90 % of the time meaning no residents or students to help out
 
I'm an anesthesiology resident at UPMC, and will have to get back to you on specifics of the CCM Fellowship (which I am very strongly considering) after I do my first CCM rotation in September, if anyone is interested

From the grapevine, it is indeed a rigorous year (or years). SOME of the ICUs have residents working underneath fellows, but several units do not have residents. You rotate among several hospitals, and that will (obviously) influence your caseload and clinical severity. From what I've seen doing anesthesiology-related work (pt preops, transport to ICU, ICU rotations as an intern), almost any rotation at UPMC Presbyterian/Montefiore (two formerly separate hospitals now connected by a bridge to form a monster hospital) will be pretty intense - especially Trauma ICU. It almost seems as if you can name a clinical entity, UPMC will put "ICU" after it, and then it's a unit. There's a Neurotrauma ICU, Neurovascular ICU, SICU x 2, MICU x 2, CTICU x 2, Transplant ICU...that may be it. Seems like there could be more, maybe. I just counted the ICU pt list - I don't know how many beds total there are, but as of right this moment, we have 137 patients in ICU beds in Presby/Monte. Neuro does some cooling stuff, the SICUs do a ton of ECMO, CTICU takes care of s/p transplants, hearts, VADs, IABPs etc. Transplant ICU has everything - liver, kidney, small bowel, multivisceral, and hand. We were approved for face, but I've not heard anything about that. My understanding is no residents in CTICU or Transplant ICU. Magee, the Women's Hospital, is (was?) small and relatively quiet, but it's being expanded as we speak, and there is almost always at least one pregnant pt with some sort of lung pathology that we debate c-sectioning in the ICU so that the mom can be placed in a prone bed. They are also increasing thoracic and bariatric surgery volume there, and there's always that chance of amniotic fluid embolism with any of the pregnant ladies. VA Hospital ICUs may be (predictably) slower, but can go crazy quickly. I did my two intern year ICU months there, and we, as interns, worked under Pulm/CC fellows - which is different from the CCM Department fellows. CCM Department fellows staffed the Surgical ICUs without residents beneath them. Pittsburgh is one of two VA Hospitals that do liver transplants; we're the east of the Mississippi one, so you can see your share of disasters from that aspect. I believe CCM Dept fellows will also go to Shadyside, which has much of our big whack cancer surgery cases, very busy heart/aorta/thoracic surgery service, and medical cancer treatment. Not too familiar with stuff there, but there's at least a CTICU, MICU, and SICU. I'm under the impression that you get a resident in MICU and SICU there, but don't quote me.

I have not heard about drop-outs per se, but hell, who would tell me? Additionally, the anesthesiology-trained CCM fellows do only one year, and have something like 3 or 4 months out of the ICUs for elective/vacation. Rumor is that some months can have very tight scheduling for fellows, but the Department is trying to help - we (anesthesiology residents) were just offered the chance to do ICU Moonlighting shifts to help ease fellow call burden, and they may be trying to hire mid-level providers for some additional assistance.

Residents senior to me have been interviewing for anethesiology based CCM fellowships elsewhere, but almost to a man, each has said the experience at UPMC is better than any other place they've interviewed. Should you be so inclined, it doesn't look like they are hurting at all for research opportunities, either.

dc
 
bigdan said:
I'm an anesthesiology resident at UPMC, and will have to get back to you on specifics of the CCM Fellowship (which I am very strongly considering) after I do my first CCM rotation in September, if anyone is interested

From the grapevine, it is indeed a rigorous year (or years). SOME of the ICUs have residents working underneath fellows, but several units do not have residents. You rotate among several hospitals, and that will (obviously) influence your caseload and clinical severity. From what I've seen doing anesthesiology-related work (pt preops, transport to ICU, ICU rotations as an intern), almost any rotation at UPMC Presbyterian/Montefiore (two formerly separate hospitals now connected by a bridge to form a monster hospital) will be pretty intense - especially Trauma ICU. It almost seems as if you can name a clinical entity, UPMC will put "ICU" after it, and then it's a unit. There's a Neurotrauma ICU, Neurovascular ICU, SICU x 2, MICU x 2, CTICU x 2, Transplant ICU...that may be it. Seems like there could be more, maybe. I just counted the ICU pt list - I don't know how many beds total there are, but as of right this moment, we have 137 patients in ICU beds in Presby/Monte. Neuro does some cooling stuff, the SICUs do a ton of ECMO, CTICU takes care of s/p transplants, hearts, VADs, IABPs etc. Transplant ICU has everything - liver, kidney, small bowel, multivisceral, and hand. We were approved for face, but I've not heard anything about that. My understanding is no residents in CTICU or Transplant ICU. Magee, the Women's Hospital, is (was?) small and relatively quiet, but it's being expanded as we speak, and there is almost always at least one pregnant pt with some sort of lung pathology that we debate c-sectioning in the ICU so that the mom can be placed in a prone bed. They are also increasing thoracic and bariatric surgery volume there, and there's always that chance of amniotic fluid embolism with any of the pregnant ladies. VA Hospital ICUs may be (predictably) slower, but can go crazy quickly. I did my two intern year ICU months there, and we, as interns, worked under Pulm/CC fellows - which is different from the CCM Department fellows. CCM Department fellows staffed the Surgical ICUs without residents beneath them. Pittsburgh is one of two VA Hospitals that do liver transplants; we're the east of the Mississippi one, so you can see your share of disasters from that aspect. I believe CCM Dept fellows will also go to Shadyside, which has much of our big whack cancer surgery cases, very busy heart/aorta/thoracic surgery service, and medical cancer treatment. Not too familiar with stuff there, but there's at least a CTICU, MICU, and SICU. I'm under the impression that you get a resident in MICU and SICU there, but don't quote me.

I have not heard about drop-outs per se, but hell, who would tell me? Additionally, the anesthesiology-trained CCM fellows do only one year, and have something like 3 or 4 months out of the ICUs for elective/vacation. Rumor is that some months can have very tight scheduling for fellows, but the Department is trying to help - we (anesthesiology residents) were just offered the chance to do ICU Moonlighting shifts to help ease fellow call burden, and they may be trying to hire mid-level providers for some additional assistance.

Residents senior to me have been interviewing for anethesiology based CCM fellowships elsewhere, but almost to a man, each has said the experience at UPMC is better than any other place they've interviewed. Should you be so inclined, it doesn't look like they are hurting at all for research opportunities, either.

dc
Click to expand...

thanks for all the info!!
greatly appreciated!.
i am a little ahead of myself, but im thinking of going for the extra year of CCM. ive always liked ID and CCM( not pulmonary, thats why i went for ID first). and i think ill go for it.
i had montefiori in mind because some ID docs have done it there in the past and it is very good, and now i have this one in mind as well.
anyway, we will see where the road takes us!
well keep in touch!😎
 
bigdan said:
I'm an anesthesiology resident at UPMC, and will have to get back to you on specifics of the CCM Fellowship (which I am very strongly considering) after I do my first CCM rotation in September, if anyone is interested

From the grapevine, it is indeed a rigorous year (or years). SOME of the ICUs have residents working underneath fellows, but several units do not have residents. You rotate among several hospitals, and that will (obviously) influence your caseload and clinical severity. From what I've seen doing anesthesiology-related work (pt preops, transport to ICU, ICU rotations as an intern), almost any rotation at UPMC Presbyterian/Montefiore (two formerly separate hospitals now connected by a bridge to form a monster hospital) will be pretty intense - especially Trauma ICU. It almost seems as if you can name a clinical entity, UPMC will put "ICU" after it, and then it's a unit. There's a Neurotrauma ICU, Neurovascular ICU, SICU x 2, MICU x 2, CTICU x 2, Transplant ICU...that may be it. Seems like there could be more, maybe. I just counted the ICU pt list - I don't know how many beds total there are, but as of right this moment, we have 137 patients in ICU beds in Presby/Monte. Neuro does some cooling stuff, the SICUs do a ton of ECMO, CTICU takes care of s/p transplants, hearts, VADs, IABPs etc. Transplant ICU has everything - liver, kidney, small bowel, multivisceral, and hand. We were approved for face, but I've not heard anything about that. My understanding is no residents in CTICU or Transplant ICU. Magee, the Women's Hospital, is (was?) small and relatively quiet, but it's being expanded as we speak, and there is almost always at least one pregnant pt with some sort of lung pathology that we debate c-sectioning in the ICU so that the mom can be placed in a prone bed. They are also increasing thoracic and bariatric surgery volume there, and there's always that chance of amniotic fluid embolism with any of the pregnant ladies. VA Hospital ICUs may be (predictably) slower, but can go crazy quickly. I did my two intern year ICU months there, and we, as interns, worked under Pulm/CC fellows - which is different from the CCM Department fellows. CCM Department fellows staffed the Surgical ICUs without residents beneath them. Pittsburgh is one of two VA Hospitals that do liver transplants; we're the east of the Mississippi one, so you can see your share of disasters from that aspect. I believe CCM Dept fellows will also go to Shadyside, which has much of our big whack cancer surgery cases, very busy heart/aorta/thoracic surgery service, and medical cancer treatment. Not too familiar with stuff there, but there's at least a CTICU, MICU, and SICU. I'm under the impression that you get a resident in MICU and SICU there, but don't quote me.

I have not heard about drop-outs per se, but hell, who would tell me? Additionally, the anesthesiology-trained CCM fellows do only one year, and have something like 3 or 4 months out of the ICUs for elective/vacation. Rumor is that some months can have very tight scheduling for fellows, but the Department is trying to help - we (anesthesiology residents) were just offered the chance to do ICU Moonlighting shifts to help ease fellow call burden, and they may be trying to hire mid-level providers for some additional assistance.

Residents senior to me have been interviewing for anethesiology based CCM fellowships elsewhere, but almost to a man, each has said the experience at UPMC is better than any other place they've interviewed. Should you be so inclined, it doesn't look like they are hurting at all for research opportunities, either.

dc
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the information. It does really help. Appreciate it
 
bigdan said:
I'm an anesthesiology resident at UPMC, and will have to get back to you on specifics of the CCM Fellowship (which I am very strongly considering) after I do my first CCM rotation in September, if anyone is interested

From the grapevine, it is indeed a rigorous year (or years). SOME of the ICUs have residents working underneath fellows, but several units do not have residents. You rotate among several hospitals, and that will (obviously) influence your caseload and clinical severity. From what I've seen doing anesthesiology-related work (pt preops, transport to ICU, ICU rotations as an intern), almost any rotation at UPMC Presbyterian/Montefiore (two formerly separate hospitals now connected by a bridge to form a monster hospital) will be pretty intense - especially Trauma ICU. It almost seems as if you can name a clinical entity, UPMC will put "ICU" after it, and then it's a unit. There's a Neurotrauma ICU, Neurovascular ICU, SICU x 2, MICU x 2, CTICU x 2, Transplant ICU...that may be it. Seems like there could be more, maybe. I just counted the ICU pt list - I don't know how many beds total there are, but as of right this moment, we have 137 patients in ICU beds in Presby/Monte. Neuro does some cooling stuff, the SICUs do a ton of ECMO, CTICU takes care of s/p transplants, hearts, VADs, IABPs etc. Transplant ICU has everything - liver, kidney, small bowel, multivisceral, and hand. We were approved for face, but I've not heard anything about that. My understanding is no residents in CTICU or Transplant ICU. Magee, the Women's Hospital, is (was?) small and relatively quiet, but it's being expanded as we speak, and there is almost always at least one pregnant pt with some sort of lung pathology that we debate c-sectioning in the ICU so that the mom can be placed in a prone bed. They are also increasing thoracic and bariatric surgery volume there, and there's always that chance of amniotic fluid embolism with any of the pregnant ladies. VA Hospital ICUs may be (predictably) slower, but can go crazy quickly. I did my two intern year ICU months there, and we, as interns, worked under Pulm/CC fellows - which is different from the CCM Department fellows. CCM Department fellows staffed the Surgical ICUs without residents beneath them. Pittsburgh is one of two VA Hospitals that do liver transplants; we're the east of the Mississippi one, so you can see your share of disasters from that aspect. I believe CCM Dept fellows will also go to Shadyside, which has much of our big whack cancer surgery cases, very busy heart/aorta/thoracic surgery service, and medical cancer treatment. Not too familiar with stuff there, but there's at least a CTICU, MICU, and SICU. I'm under the impression that you get a resident in MICU and SICU there, but don't quote me.

I have not heard about drop-outs per se, but hell, who would tell me? Additionally, the anesthesiology-trained CCM fellows do only one year, and have something like 3 or 4 months out of the ICUs for elective/vacation. Rumor is that some months can have very tight scheduling for fellows, but the Department is trying to help - we (anesthesiology residents) were just offered the chance to do ICU Moonlighting shifts to help ease fellow call burden, and they may be trying to hire mid-level providers for some additional assistance.

Residents senior to me have been interviewing for anethesiology based CCM fellowships elsewhere, but almost to a man, each has said the experience at UPMC is better than any other place they've interviewed. Should you be so inclined, it doesn't look like they are hurting at all for research opportunities, either.

dc
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Also, please tell me that if you have family in another state- like it will be for me- is it possible to travel with this fellowship. I am just asking how busy it may be

Thanks
 
drdev said:
Thanks for the info. Also, please tell me that if you have family in another state- like it will be for me- is it possible to travel with this fellowship. I am just asking how busy it may be

Thanks
Click to expand...

Guys - You're welcome. Not sure how much it helps, but hopefully it helps a bit.

DrDev - I might not have spelled it out in exact words, but it's VERY BUSY for most rotations. You'll note the important caveat I placed - I haven't done the rotation yet - but my general impression is that the schedule is busy. As with all my posts, I invite correction of my errors or additional points of view, from those that might know better.
 
EMIM2011 said:
Happy to answer questions...
Click to expand...

Any particular thoughts on the program? I've heard that it's probably the best clinical and research training in the country, but you get what you pay for. Would you say that's fair? Anything you don't see enough of? Anything you don't feel comfortable with? Any major gripes?

Feel free to PM if you don't feel comfortable posting.
 
I would agree with that. Anything you would ever want to do, you can do here. You will be comfortable managing any patient population after your fellowship, whether you will end up in academics in a specialty ICU or in a busy community shop. As you probably know, you don't have residents on several rotations, so you end up doing a fair amount of scut work. But that's also how things go in the "real world" of a lot of community places. It also means that you can't hide, and you just have to be good and efficient.
 
I always found fellows argument that they shouldn't have to do scut work like replace potassium or write notes odd as the day to day minisha is just as important as the big diagnosis or procedures
 
Hernandez said:
I always found fellows argument that they shouldn't have to do scut work like replace potassium or write notes odd as the day to day minisha is just as important as the big diagnosis or procedures
Click to expand...

I wrote a bunch of notes today. I actually did replace some potassium too. It all seemed reasonable.
 
Hernandez said:
I always found fellows argument that they shouldn't have to do scut work like replace potassium or write notes odd as the day to day minisha is just as important as the big diagnosis or procedures
Click to expand...

That's what some people consider scut?
 
TimesNewRoman said:
I've heard that it's probably the best clinical and research training in the country, but you get what you pay for. Would you say that's fair?
Click to expand...

Some other programs might disagree 😉
 
UPMC CCM has strong clinical exposure and excellent research opportunities
With 200+ ICU beds in 5 hospitals your fellowship will vary with each rotation
There are more residents and APP's each year, call is 5-6/month for 1st year and generous time for research in 2nd year.
 
CCM-IM intensivist said:
UPMC CCM has strong clinical exposure and excellent research opportunities
With 200+ ICU beds in 5 hospitals your fellowship will vary with each rotation
There are more residents and APP's each year, call is 5-6/month for 1st year and generous time for research in 2nd year.
Click to expand...

This sounds a lot like one of those job postings for a crappy position in BFE
 
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