Fellowship Program Overview

The Division of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery Fellowship of the Department of Surgery (fully accredited by the RRC of the ACGME), is designed to train surgeons at the PGY-4 level or higher in all phases of the care of the critically ill and injured surgical patient, while meeting all of the requirements for certification by the Residency Review Committee. It prepares the Fellow to function with advanced skills suited for either an academic or clinical career.

Facilities
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is a 700-bed tertiary care hospital that is the primary teaching institution for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. It serves as the primary training site for the Fellowship. Within the institution, there is a 56-bed multi-disciplinary Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) that has 2300-2500 admissions yearly. There is a 3-bed dedicated trauma receiving area within the Emergency Department where 1500 patients per year are admitted to the Trauma Service. This facility, which opened in January 1996, offers the opportunity to care for severely injured trauma victims in a setting that is truly state-of-the-art.

An intensive exposure to the care of severely ill and injured children takes place immediately adjacent to HUP at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). CHOP has a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit staffed by board certified pediatric surgeons and anesthesia intensivists who provide supervision and educational opportunities. CHOP is also a pediatric Level I trauma center.

The St. Luke’s Hospital, located in Bethlehem, PA, is a 450-bed full service medical center, and houses a Level I Trauma Center administered and staffed by UPHS physicians and surgeons. The multidisciplinary Surgical Intensive Care Unit is staffed by Board Certified surgical and medical intensivists, who provide supervision and educational opportunities for HUP Critical Care Fellows who rotate there.

PENNStar, the Hospital's aeromedical ambulance service, is active in transporting critically ill surgical and medical patients, as well as trauma victims to HUP.

Duration and Scope of Training
Trauma Resuscitation and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship – This is a non-accredited, 1-year program geared toward physicians who have completed an RRC certified Emergency Medicine residency, and are Board Eligible or Board Certified in Emergency Medicine. As such, the recruitment, application, and acceptance process occurs outside of the NRMP match. Trainees are fully integrated into all clinical and educational components of our Critical Care program, and function in a role equivalent to our Fellows in Surgical Critical Care. Training sites include HUP, CHOP, and St. Luke's Hospital. An intensive non-operative experience in trauma care is also provided, emphasizing trauma team organization, resuscitation, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Post-admission care and exposure to the study of trauma systems and public health issues is also provided. Successful graduates of the training program will be eligible to apply to the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine to sit for examination leading to the European Diploma in Intensive Care (EDIC).

Trauma and Surgical Critical Care – This program takes place over a 2-year period, and integrates the disciplines of trauma surgery, emergency general surgery, and surgical critical care.

During the first year, rotations in surgical critical care training are interspersed with rotations on a trauma service.

During the second year, the balance of the surgical critical care fellowship occurs. American Board of Surgery eligible or certified fellows who have successfully completed their trauma training the prior year are afforded the opportunity to serve as Fellows in Exception (FIE) in General Surgery. FIEs are able to practice surgery and traumatology independently at HUP, as well as at our second practice site at the St. Luke’s Hospital located 60 miles north of Philadelphia in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. St. Luke’s Hospital affords our FIEs a unique experience in a community-based environment in conjunction with our full time faculty. The experience here is weighted toward severe blunt trauma and pediatric injury.