Curriculum and Research

To provide the highest quality of training, the fellow rotates through three different units, the general surgical ICU, trauma ICU, and trauma stepdown unit. These core rotations represent 10 months of the of the first year. In each unit, the fellow is responsible for supervising turnover rounds with the resident or nurse practitioner, assisting the resident or nurse practitioner with any procedure if necessary, and helping the attending surgeons during their rounds.

The fellows will rotate on at least two elective services during their first year. They will be able to choose from a variety of electives such as burn, pediatric trauma/pediatric ICU, neurocritical care, and medical intensive care.

During the first year of fellowship, each fellow takes 2 overnight trauma calls per week. One fellow takes call on Friday night and one fellow takes call on Saturday. No fellow takes call on Sundays. If the fellow is not on call, they do not come in over the weekend. This allows for an average of 3 days off over the course of 3 weeks. The fellows are provided time off for preparation and completion of the General Surgery Qualifying exam, Certifying exam, and presentation of any potential research. Time off for vacations and special events are provided with advanced notice given.

During the second year of fellowship, the fellows integrate into the clinical call schedule with the faculty (average 4 night calls per month). The fellows will be assigned ICU, Shock trauma/trauma consults, and floor clinical duties similar to the attending schedule. The fellows will participate in vascular and cardiothoracic electives during their second year to augment their training. The fellows will also have the option to participate in a pre-hospital elective if they choose.

Trauma Intensive Care Unit (TICU)

The TICU is a 22-bed unit that accommodates the most critically-injured patients in the hospital. A PGY-3 categorical general surgery resident provides 24-hour coverage of the patients in this unit. The TICU is located on the first floor of the trauma center and has direct access to both the Critical Care Assessment (CCA) and the trauma operating rooms.

General Intensive Care Unit (GICU)

The GICU consists of 18 ICU beds and 15 Progressive Care Unit (PCU) beds that are shared amongst the Surgical Critical Care (SCC) team and the Medical ICU (MICU) team. The SCC team will admit critical trauma and emergency general surgery patients to these units. Occasionally, the SCC team will act as a consultant for critical care management for other services and help with invasive procedures (i.e. tracheostomy, percutaneous feeding tube placement) for the MICU team. A categorical or preliminary general surgery intern provides 24-hour coverage of the general surgery and trauma patients in these units.

Trauma Stepdown Unit (TSDU)

The TSDU is a 14-bed unit that provides an intermediate level of care for trauma patients between the ICU and the surgical/trauma ward. All the patients in this unit are admitted to the trauma service. Nurse practitioners provide 24- hour coverage of the patients in this unit.

Each incoming fellow will be encouraged to take on scholarly activity (i.e. original research, drafting of review paper or text chapter) early in the year, and will meet regularly with the PD to track progress. Completion of this project is not required for graduation. The Surgical Care Fellowship Program follows all ACGME and UT GME Policies and Procedures.