Program Coordinator: Steven Minear, MD
Duration: 4 weeks, Full time
Availability: Year round
No. of Students: 1

Prerequisite

Completion of all core clerkships. Open to senior medical students.

Objectives

To provide students with an opportunity to learn clinical skills and to develop a foundation of knowledge to provide critical care services in the perioperative setting.

Description

The students will be expected to see patients and gather patient data under the close supervision of the residents. The students will round as a member of the team, first as an observer. As they become comfortable, they will present their patient(s) to the attending physician. They will practice and gain experience developing a SICU presentation in an “organ system-based” format.

The Surgical Intensive Care Unit is designed for the care for patients in the perioperative setting. As such, the pathophysiology of the patients there include respiratory failure, cardiogenic shock, surgical bleeding, coagulopathy, and sepsis. Our hospital serves a very highly complex surgical population including cardiac, solid organ transplantation, colorectal, neurosurgical, plastics, and vascular patients that require critical care services.

Medical students are encouraged to follow patients they find interesting, and to explore resources and papers relevant to the topic. We encourage students to ask questions! Moreover, we encourage students to prepare a short 5 minute presentation on any topic that they find interesting. There is no penalty for choosing not to do this, but it is very helpful for both the student and the group.

Evaluation

Evaluations will be distributed by the MSE department to the preceptor at the end of the rotation.