Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
The Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program at Tufts Medical Center is an ACGME accredited training program providing one year of comprehensive, multidisciplinary training in critical care medicine.

About this program

Fellows rotate through intensive care units at Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC) and the Boston VA Healthcare System in West Roxbury. Rotations take place in the following units:

  • Cardiac care unit
  • Cardiothoracic surgery unit
  • Medical intensive care unit
  • Neurocritical care unit
  • Surgical intensive care unit

Each year, 2 candidates from anesthesiology or surgical residencies are accepted into the Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program at Tufts MC.

The period spent in the Fellowship is a minimum of 12 months, with no more than 1 interrupted period due to reasonable circumstances. Fellows start their training in July.
Contact info
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Chris-ann Walker
Program Coordinator
Contact info
user
Erin Elliott
Program Coordinator

How to apply

All candidates for the fellowship must have satisfactorily completed an accredited residency program in anesthesiology. All candidates for the fellowship must be eligible for and obtain a Massachusetts medical license.

Application for a fellowship position should contain a letter of intent/personal statement, curriculum vitae and 3 letters of recommendation from the current residency program.

All Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Applications should be submitted through the online fellowship matching service, SF Match. Please contact our Program Coordinators, Chris-ann Walker and Erin Elliott, if you have any questions.

After reviewing applications, chosen applicants are invited for a formal interview. The finalists will be selected after a unanimous decision of the Anesthesia Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program in consultation with the department chair.

Clinical opportunities

The Fellowship aims to provide a broad clinical experience in critical care medicine through exposure to a wide range of intensive care units and multidisciplinary training.

The academic year is broadly divided as follows:
Internal rotations
  • 2-3 months: cardiothoracic surgery unit, a 10-bed ICU for the postoperative care of cardiac surgery patients.
  • 2 months: cardiac care unit, a 10-bed unit for the care of critically ill advanced heart failure, general cardiology and electrophysiology patients.
  • Up to 1 month: medical intensive care unit, a 10-bed unit for critically ill medicine patients.
  • Up to 1 month: neurocritical care, an 8-bed unit for the care of critically ill neurology and postoperative neurosurgery patients, as well as a 7-bed intermediate care unit.
  • 2 months: elective, available in a wide range of specialties, including transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, radiology, infectious diseases, cardiology, and more.
External rotations
  • 4 months of training in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit and the Progressive Care Unit in the Boston VA Healthcare System in West Roxbury. This may include time pursuing research and QA/QI initiatives.

ICU rotations are comprised of 5 days per week and 1 weekend per month of clinical service. In addition, fellows are expected to take home call Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays during non-elective rotations. If a fellow is called in at night, the next day is granted off. There is no night float requirement.

During ICU rotations, fellows are expected to take an active role in teaching and conducting rounds, providing care for patients in the unit, conducting procedures independently or supervising procedures done by house staff or physician’s assistants and interfacing with the primary team and consulting physicians.

Curriculum

During their rotations, fellows will be trained by critical care faculty from a broad range of specialties including anesthesiology, cardiology, cardiac surgery, medicine, neurology, pulmonology and trauma and acute care surgery.

Fellows, through clinical exposure and a didactic series, will become expert consultants in the care and management of critically ill patients. Topics covered will include but are not limited to:

  • Management of neurologic impairment
  • Management of pain, agitation, delirium and sedation
  • Management of respiratory failure, including invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation
  • Hemodynamic monitoring and management of shock
  • Temporary and durable cardiopulmonary support, including IABP, percutaneous, surgical and durable VAD, and ECMO
  • Management of enteral and parenteral nutrition
  • Management of renal failure and renal replacement therapy
  • Management of sepsis and septic shock
  • Management of multisystem organ failure
  • Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic considerations in the critically ill patient
  • Management of immunosuppression and the immunosuppressed patient
  • Bedside critical care ultrasound

Critical care didactics include but are not limited to:

  • Anesthesiology Grand Rounds
  • Critical Care Fellow’s Lecture Series
  • Critical Care Journal Club
  • Critical Care M&M and Case Review
  • Critical Care Ultrasound Review
  • ECMO M&M and Case Review

Didactics

Each fellow will be responsible for the following seminars throughout the year:

  • Journal Club (every other month)
  • Case review / M&M (every other month)
  • Two major seminars throughout the year. This will involve the preparation of two presentations to be given in one of the Department’s didactic sessions on topics related to the broader critical care medicine spectrum.

Past examples of seminars and presentations include:

  • Management of the LVAD for Noncardiac Surgery
  • Massive and Submassive PE
  • Recombinant Activated Factor VII: Safety, Indications and Evidence
  • Sedation in the ICU and the 2013 PAD Guidelines
  • Transfusion Triggers and Strategies

Fellowship goals

The Tufts MC Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program is designed to provide advanced knowledge, skills, and clinical experiences in critical care medicine to foster the practice of multidisciplinary critical care, including both medical and surgical critical care medicine.

This fellowship is devoted to the acute and long-term care of critically ill patients with a wide variety of medical and surgical conditions, including multiple organ system derangements. The overall goals of education are to produce physicians capable of working in any adult critical care unit and providing for the continuum of care within the intensive care unit and other hospital units, such as transitional care units designed to provide care for critically ill patients.

Why Tufts MC

Fellows complete their training at Tufts Medical Center, a world-class academic medical center located in Boston and the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. It also sponsors nineteen specialty ACGME-accredited clinical training programs.

Tufts Medical Center is a 415-bed robust organization, providing everything from routine medical care to treating the most complex diseases affecting adults and children. Tufts Medical Center is also home to Tufts Medical Center, a full-service children's hospital dedicated exclusively to all levels of pediatric care.

Tufts Medical Center provides heart, kidney and bone marrow transplants, is a level I trauma center, provides comprehensive neurological and neurosurgical care, and offers cutting-edge cancer treatments. Tufts Medical Center is also home to The Boston Gamma Knife Center, the first and only Gamma Knife Center in Massachusetts and northern New England.

Salary + benefits

To learn more about benefits at Tufts Medical Center, download our benefits package.