Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Curriculum

Curriculum Summary

At the end of our 36-month Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine training program, you will be completely trained in all aspects of clinical pulmonary and critical care medicine based on the ACGME guidelines.

During this period it is expected that you will evolve, through increasing lines of responsibility, into competent pulmonary and critical care physicians.

You will spend 25 months pursuing inpatient clinical rotations supervised by UMass Chan-Baystate faculty. Additionally, you will participate in weekly continuity clinic for three years, and will have the opportunity to participate in subspecialty clinics in pulmonary hypertension, adult cystic fibrosis, and tuberculosis.

Four months is devoted to the development of research projects and scholarly activities that will result in presentations at local and national conferences. Elective time can be allocated for research, should you be interested.

Rotations By Year

First Year

  • MICU – 2 months
  • Pulmonary Consults – 4 months
  • Anesthesia – 1 month
  • Elective – 1 month
  • Research – 1 month
  • Clinic – 1 month
  • Sleep/PFTs – 1 month
  • Thoracic Surgery – 1 month

Second Year

  • MICU – 3 months
  • SICU – 1 month
  • Heart and Vascular Critical Care - 1 month
  • Pulmonary Consults – 3 months
  • Elective – 1 month
  • Research – 2 months
  • ECHO – 0.5 month
  • Clinic – 0.5 month

Third Year

  • MICU – 4 months
  • SICU – 1 month
  • Neuro Critical Care – 1 month
  • Pulmonary Consults – 3 months
  • Elective – 2 months
  • Research – 1 month

Rotation Descriptions

Medical ICU – 9 months

This rotation provides daily exposure to all aspects of treating critically ill patients in our 16 bed medical ICU. You will develop medical management and decision making skills, as well as skills for common procedures performed in the ICU such as, bronchoscopy, central line placement, intubation, and chest tube insertion.

Surgical ICU – 2 months

These rotations train and educate you in the care and management of critically ill surgical and trauma patients with complex multi-system disease and organ failure in our 16 bed Surgical ICU.

Neurologic ICU – 1 month

Here you will learn the specialized monitoring and therapeutic maneuvers specific for neurological patients. Subarachnoid hemorrhage, catheter directed thrombectomy, and intraventricular drains are commonly encountered.

Cardiac ICU – 1 month

This rotation provides daily exposure to all aspects of treating critically ill cardiac surgery patients. You will participate in medical management and decision making in post – operative patients, and observe cardiac surgery in the operating room.

Pulmonary Consult service – 10 months

The goal of this rotation is to train you in basic and advanced skills in diagnosing and managing hospitalized patients with the full range of pulmonary diseases. You will learn to provide consultations that are effective, professional, and timely in a teaching hospital setting.

You will also learn the management of patients on chronic mechanical ventilation, management of tracheostomies, and long term weaning from mechanical ventilation. Bronchoscopy, thoracentesis, and chest tube insertion are performed on this rotation.

Anesthesia - 1 month

This rotation provides an opportunity to evaluate and manage patients in the perioperative setting, gaining familiarity with advanced airway insertion. You will develop skills in airway management, operative ventilator management, conscious sedation, pain management, and other pharmacologic management of patients in the perioperative setting.

Electives - 4 months

Elective to choose from include emergency department ultrasound, additional research time, or any internal medicine elective such as infectious disease or nephrology.

Echo -  2 weeks

This rotation provides basic knowledge and skills of echocardiography. Typically fellows rotate with echosonography staff and assist in obtaining and interpreting images.

Research - 4 months

This time is dedicated to design, data acquisition, and eventual publication of a novel research study. You are paired with a research mentor to facilitate IRB approval, study design, and protocol drafting.

Clinic (in addition to continuity clinic) - 6 weeks

During this rotation you work alongside an attending pulmonologist in outpatient clinic. Subspeciality clinics will also be scheduled during this time.

Sleep/PFTs - 1 month

This rotation teaches the techniques associated with PFT acquisition, ATS guidelines, interpretation, and sources of error. Additionally, you will work with staff sleep physicians and attend sleep clinic and sleep lab.

Thoracic Surgery - 1 month

You will rotate with the Thoracic Surgery team, perform inpatient consults, help manage post-operative cases, and observe thoracic surgery cases in the operating room.

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