Four- or eight-week sessions offered monthly August through May inclusive

Prerequisite: Completion of internal medicine internship in good standing

Elective Descriptions

The Critical Care Medicine Department (CCMD) invites internal medicine residents, in their PGY-2 or PGY-3 year, to a 4- or 8-week clinical rotation in the intensive care unit at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center (CC). The CC is the site of intramural clinical research for the NIH. People from all over the world participate in approximately 1,000 research protocols conducted by the various institutes and centers. Each year, more than 6,000 patients are admitted to the CC. The CCMD provides medical, cardiac, and surgical ICU services for critically ill adult and pediatric patients enrolled in intramural NIH research protocols. The ICU is staffed by senior physicians and fellows with expertise in critical care medicine, pulmonary diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and anesthesiology. The ICU (capacity: 12 beds) will evaluate any patient from any service within the CC at the request of the patient's primary physician. The ICU is equipped with state-of-the-art cardiovascular and respiratory support services well suited to the care of patients with multisystem organ failure. The resident is expected to be an integral part of the ICU team. Work rounds start at 6:30 a.m., and academic rounds start at 8:00 a.m. and are followed by imaging and microbiology rounds. There are also daily afternoon sign-out rounds. There is a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (12:00–1:00 p.m.) Lecture Series in which pertinent clinical and research topics in critical care medicine are reviewed. The resident would be expected to attend morning rounds (Monday–Friday), be present at lectures, participate in evaluating and treating patients transferred to the ICU under the supervision of the staff physician or ICU fellow, and avail themselves of the outstanding electronic/library resources available at NIH to review existing literature pertinent to the clinical problems discussed on morning rounds. The resident will also have the opportunity, under the supervision of the staff physician or ICU fellow, to become skilled in the placement of a variety of artificial airways and intravascular catheters. Residents may take in-house calls no more than every fourth night. A partial travel and rent subsidy will be provided to eligible candidates. Availability may be limited by program constraints.

Elective Objectives

• Gain clinical experience in providing thoughtful and expedient care for critically ill patients.
• Develop procedural and intellectual skills required of a critical care physician.
• Develop skills to effectively communicate medical information to patients and their families, ancillary medical staff, and fellow physicians.
• Acquire information about critical care medicine training opportunities available at NIH.

Application Procedure

Applications will be considered when the following items have been received:

• A letter from the resident indicating desired session date(s), career goals, return address, and telephone number for daytime contact.
• A curriculum vitae (include name, address, education, research activities, and current level of training).
• A letter of recommendation and approval from the director of the internal medical training program.
• An additional letter of recommendation from a member of the internal medicine clinical faculty.

Applications should be sent to:

Dorothea McAreavey, MD
Critical Care Medicine Department
National Institutes of Health
10 Center Drive, Room 2C145
Bethesda, MD 20892-1662
(301) 496-9320
Fax: (301) 402-1213
ccmprogram@mail.cc.nih.gov