About the fellowship

The Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery offers four fellowships each year in surgical critical care. An optional second year is available.

The Surgical Critical Care fellowship is composed of a one-year training program housed at the only University-based quaternary medical center in Oregon which is also one of two Level I trauma centers in Portland. Fellowship rotations are designed to provide exposure to a broad range of critically injured and critically ill patients.

OHSU participates in the NRMP match process. Interviews are held in Portland, Oregon from April through September. To apply, please visit the Surgical critical care and Acute care surgery Fellowship Application Service (SAFAS) website.

The Surgical Critical Care fellowship is composed of a one-year training program housed at the only University-based quaternary medical center in Oregon which is also one of two Level I trauma centers in Portland. Fellowship rotations are designed to provide exposure to a broad range of critically injured and critically ill patients.

Fellows spend six months rotating on the Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit (TSICU) where they work primarily with residents in the Department of Surgery and Emergency Medicine. The fellow is responsible for continuity and management of critically ill patients in the TSICU. These patients include trauma patients as well as surgical services such as emergency general surgery, oncology, hepatobiliary, minimally invasive, colorectal, transplant, and bariatric surgery. Fellows also have responsibilities in ICU administration as well as medical student and resident education. 

While rotating on the Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit, fellows complete six week weekday or weekend rotations. Fellows have in house call responsibilities for Trauma and Emergency General Surgery approximately one night per week.

During the latter half of their year, fellows complete a 6 week rotation in the Portland VA Medical Center Surgical ICU. Fellows lead the management of critically ill cardiothoracic and surgical patients at PVAMC.

During their remaining time, fellows have the opportunity to select electives in critical care units dedicated to pediatrics, medicine, cardiology, burns, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, anesthesiology, and transplant surgery. Additional opportunities are available in radiology and echocardiography. There is also the opportunity to spend a month at an outside institution, training abroad or conducting research. Generally, no night or weekend call is required while rotating on elective services. Fellows are also offered attendance to one paid national conference meeting of their choice.

Administrative responsibilities include formulating and implementing new ICU policies and guidelines, choosing up-to-date and relevant articles for the weekly trauma breakfast, performing chart reviews for the weekly Morbidity and Mortality conference, lead the weekly multidisciplinary ICU rounds, give ICU curriculum lectures to the residents, give a grand rounds lecture during the fellowship, maintain a record of ICU patients managed and operations performed, maintain a record of work hours and days off duty, and complete monthly evaluations of the faculty and residents. The fellow is also expected to participate in monthly trauma faculty meetings, trauma committee meetings, peer review meetings, and fellowship interviews.

The surgical critical care fellow will be part of the surgical team and thus will interact with general surgery residents and medical students. The fellow will be expected to participate in teaching opportunities during the daily care of surgical patients.

Conferences include general surgery grand rounds, two months of multidisciplinary daily lectures, weekly Trauma Conference, morbidity and mortality conference, small group fellow rounds, and weekly multidisciplinary lectures.

The salary is dependent upon PGY level; the 2018-2019 range was $69,800 to $75,100.

There is an opportunity to spend a month at an outside institution, training abroad, or conducting research.