Residency and Education
SURGICAL
CRITICAL CARE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Department of Surgery Overview
Character of the institution:
Loyola University Medical Center
(LUMC), affiliated with Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine is
a tertiary care teaching hospital with 542 licensed beds. The Department of
Surgery is RRC approved for six categorical general surgical residency positions
per year. Surgical fellowships approved include: vascular surgery (1
position/year), cardio-thoracic surgery (2 positions/year), plastic surgery (1
position/year), and surgical critical care (1 position/year).
Loyola is the
only major university-affiliated medical center in the western suburbs of
Chicago, serving a catchment area of 5 million people. Loyola serves as a major
referral site for complex general surgery patients as well as critically injured
patients. Loyola is a state-designated Level I Trauma Center for both adult
and pediatric patients, admitting approximately 1800 injured patients per year
and supported by an active aeromedical program. Loyola’s Burn Center treats
over 400 patients a year, making it the busiest burn center in metropolitan
Chicago and the Midwest, and the first Burn Center in the area verified by the
American Burn Association/American College of Surgeons. Finally, the Emergency
Department provides treatment to approximately 50,000 seriously ill and injured
patients every year.
The Department
of Surgery at LUMC has consistently maintained a rigorous academic environment
for surgical residents. The number of critically ill patients managed at LUMC
has steadily increased. The maturation of the intraabdominal and intra-thoracic
transplantation programs has provided further experience in handling complex
patients. Along with the expansion of the trauma service, and the high volume
of complex surgical cases, the Loyola experience and educational possibilities
in critical care have been excellent.
Level I Trauma Center Designation
The Loyola University Medical
Center has been verified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) as a Level I
Trauma Center, the only ACS verified trauma center in the State of Illinois.
The verification is valid for a three year duration.
This additional accolade
supplements the state of Illinois designation as a Level I Trauma Center,
delivering the highest standards of care to injured patients.
Research Emphasis
The strong
research interests of the faculty are supported by the Burn and Shock Trauma
Institute (BSTI). The BSTI is a multidisciplinary research entity dedicated to
the prevention and treatment of injury and its consequences. Its research
efforts further complement the emphasis on critical care and teaching. The
focal point of the Institute’s activities is a state-of-the-art research
facility, with 12 independent research laboratories. A hallmark of the
Institute is the strong coupling of several basic science disciplines with
clinical applications. This linkage is emphasized in the development of joint
projects between clinicians and basic scientists, resulting in translational
research, taking the bench top to the bedside. This collaborative environment
is further enhanced through intramural bridge grants between laboratories, a
weekly research forum, and an NIH-funded Trauma Training Grant. Additionally,
the Institute is the home of the Loyola Injury Prevention Program, which
develops and conducts community based injury prevention programs.
Program Structure
The Surgical
Critical Care fellowship is integrated into the general surgical residency at
several levels. The SCC fellow serves in a “junior attending” capacity in the
SICU. The fellow supervises residents at the 1st, 2nd and
4th year levels of residency. Regular responsibilities include daily
rounds, didactic lectures, with performance and supervision of procedures. The
SCC fellow is an integral member of the Critical Care team, providing continuity
of care, and an important interface between the critically ill patient and
members of the operating team. Additionally, the SCC fellow has the opportunity
to obtain mastery of the organizational and administrative aspects of a critical
care unit, and the ethical, economic and legal issues that pertain to critical
care. At the completion of the program, the SCC fellow will understand the
administration of an intensive care unit, be able to establish policies and
procedures for that unit, and will also be facile in the implementation of a
performance improvement program.
The structure of
the critical care program at LUMC is such that the SCC fellow has primary
responsibilities in the ICUs. The operative experience primarily occurs during
the 5 nights of trauma call per month. The SCC fellow will also be involved in
ICU-based procedures in a supervisory role, as well as with critically ill
trauma patients who may require re-exploration.
Rotations
The main ICU is
the Surgical Intensive Care unit at LUMC, a 16-bed ICU and 8-bed step-down unit
which runs at 97% occupancy. The mix of patients is approximately 40%
multi-system trauma patients and 60% general surgery patients, with occasional
orthopaedic and gynecological emergencies. The SCC fellow spends at least 7
months in this ICU. The ICU resident and team co-manage the patients in the SICU
with the primary service. All comprehensive critical care issues are managed by
the ICU team and SCC fellow, while the routine general surgery issues such as
wound management, etc. are managed by the primary team. A collaborative effort
is given towards issues such as nutritional support and antimicrobial therapy.
The Hines VA
surgical intensive care unit is an 8-bed unit with both cardiothoracic and
general surgical patients. The SCC fellow spends 2 months in this ICU. The
Hines VA ICU works with a similar collaborative care model to the LUMC ICU.
The Burn Unit at
Loyola is a 10-bed ICU dedicated to the management of critically burned
patients. This unit runs at greater than 95% occupancy. This rotation is an
optional one or two month rotation for the fellow, depending on the level of
interest. The SCC fellow functions in a supervisory and teaching role to the
mid and junior level residents in the Burn Unit.
The SCC fellow
also has the opportunity to do elective rotations in the cardiothoracic unit, a
multidisciplinary unit staffed by both surgical and anesthesia intensivists, in
the pediatric ICU staffed by pediatric intensivists or in the medical ICU
staffed by medical intensivists.
Faculty Leadership
The fellowship
training program is directed by Dr. Carol Schermer. Dr. Schermer and Dr. John
Santaniello are co-directors of the Surgical ICU at LUMC. Dr. Richard Gamelli
is the Director of the Burn ICU. Dr. R. Lawrence Reed II is the director of the
Surgical ICU at the Hines VA hospital. The Director of the Trauma Division is
Dr. Thomas Esposito.
Application Process and Timetable
The application
process is as follows. Please complete
and submit the SCC Fellowship
application. All candidates must be registered through
the National Resident Matching Program. Personal interviews are conducted in
July, August and September of each year. The deadline for submission of Match
Lists is early October and the Match results become available at the end of
October or early in November.
For additional
information about our program, please visit our website at:
http://www.luhs.org/depts/surgery/. For information about Loyola University
Medical Center, please visit
http://www.luhs.org/index.cfm.
SCC Fellowship
Application
With further
questions about our program, we invite you to contact:
Kim Echert
Education Coordinator,
Department of Surgery
Loyola University Medical Center
Email: kechert@lumc.edu
Telephone:
708-327-2335
Fax: 708-327-3489
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