Medical Critical Care Chicago

The Critical Care Fellowship within Advocate Health educates its Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Fellows in a multidisciplinary, critical care environment to become highly skilled, compassionate, and efficient in providing care for complex and critically ill patients in a variety of intensive care units. This structured program utilizes multiple modalities for education, including high-fidelity simulation, precepted clinical rotations, and provider led didactics to enhance clinical decision making and critical thinking. 

Program Goals

• Educate fellows to broaden their knowledge base of common disease processes in the critically ill and their management, with an emphasis on evidence-based practice 
• Train fellows in all bedside procedures necessary for the resuscitation of the critically ill
• Enhance time management and prioritization skills 
• Develop leadership abilities 

Hospital Locations

Fellows will spend time in three of the southwest hospitals: Advocate Christ Medical Center, Good Sam, South Suburban. 

• Advocate Christ Medical Center
  A teaching hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, and serves as a major referral center for specialties like cardiovascular care, transplantation, neurosciences, and oncology.
• Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
  Located in Downers Grove, Illinois, this community hospital is recognized for its Level I trauma center and comprehensive services including cardiology, orthopedics, and stroke care. 
• Advocate South Suburban Hospital
  Located in Hazel Crest, Illinois, this acute-care facility offers advanced surgical, cardiac, cancer, and stroke care, is known for its ‘Centers of Excellence’ in orthopedics and robotics, behavioral health and critical care.

Rotations

• Medical Intensive Care Unit (GSam, SSub) 
• Neuro intensive care unit (CMC) 
• Cardiovascular thoracic intensive care unit (CMC)
• Surgical-Trauma Intensive Care unit (CMC) 
• Electives (Choice)
  • Cardiology
  • Nephrology
  • Interventional Radiology
  • Pulmonology
  • Palliative Care
• Hospitalist Medicine (Choice)

Curriculum

Educational Purpose 

Critical care medicine is comprised of diagnoses and treatments for a wide variety of clinical problems requiring intensive care by a coordinated, multidisciplinary team. The intensivist is required to have a strong knowledge base in a broad range of common diseases processes in the critically ill and be familiar with both bedside procedures and assisted devices used in the intensive care setting. Providing care for critically ill patients reveals multiple ethical and social issues, requiring the intensivist to be competent and confident in other aspects of medicine which include goals of care discussions, advance directives, prognostication, and counseling for both patients and their caregivers. 

Teaching Methods

The critical care fellowship provides a multifactorial approach to education, including hands-on experience in various intensive care units, provider-led didactics, and simulation-based training. The primary method of learning for the nurse practitioner fellow will be through experience with active involvement in completing physical examination, diagnostic workup, and providing appropriate management with preceptor supervision.