Curriculum/Schedule

Curriculum

The goal of the Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program is to train neurointensivists who excel in all aspects of critical care management of patients with neurological conditions. Our infrastructure allows for the development of both outstanding clinical skills and academic expertise. The program’s built-in flexibility allows fellows to identify and pursue individual areas of interest to lay a foundation for their future careers.  The core neurocritical care faculty is responsible for the didactic activities as required by the training program including journal clubs, grand rounds, quality improvement, M&M conferences, neuroimaging case conferences, procedures lab and topic-specific lectures. 

The fellowship is two years with at least 15 months in critical care units and the additional 9 months designed to focus on specific subspecialities: acute stroke, general critical care, neuro-anesthesia, multimodal monitoring, clinical or basic science research. In addition to the core neurocritical care skills, fellows are trained in advanced bedside ultrasound, including advanced point of care echocardiography, transcranial dopplers and advanced airway management, including fiberoptic and video assisted laryngoscopy. 

The neurocritical care fellow will: 

• Develop expertise in clinical management of patients with disorders of the brain and/or spinal cord including: 
  • Initial resuscitation and emergency treatment/diagnostic evaluation. 
  • Critical care management and treatment of neurological conditions. 
  • Transitioning patients to the neurological rehabilitation phase of their treatment. 
• Gain knowledge and understanding of the collaborative interaction between neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuro-radiologists, emergency medicine physicians, and trauma surgeons. 
• Participate in opportunities for clinical and/or laboratory research in ongoing and/or newly developed studies. 

As an active member of the UC Neuroscience ICU the neurocritical care fellow will:  

• Participate in daily operations of the intensive care unit reporting directly to faculty responsible for the service. 
• Participate in the assessment, triaging, medical decision-making process and development of the treatment plan of neurocritically ill patients. 
• Gain the essential procedural experience to provide critical care efficiently and effectively. 
• Play an active role in ongoing clinical research protocols. 
• Develop and apply teaching skills to educate rotating junior residents and medical students.  

Schedule

In two years, fellows will complete the following training blocks: 

• NSICU 12 months 
• SICU  
• MICU  
• CVICU/ECMO 
• Multimodality monitoring  
• Post-acute Care 
• Electives: 6 months
  • Vacation: 2 months