Electives

Electives are taken by fellows in their second and third years of training and provide an intense exposure to specific subject areas.

Electives include: 

Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Fellows participate for one month in the care of patients admitted to the SICU at either the Fairview-University Medical Center (FUMC): a 24-bed SICU, or Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC): a 13-bed SICU. These SICUs offer an in-depth experience in the postoperative management of patients undergoing a variety of surgical procedures including organ transplant, coronary artery bypass grafting, resection of lung masses, trauma, and other surgical procedures. Patient care involves a multidisciplinary approach including intensivists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, dietitians, and specialists in Internal Medicine. The fellow is an active member of the patient-care team and attends daily rounds, may be primarily in charge of patient care, takes night call every fourth night (UMHC only), and provides consultative services for all the patients in the SICU. 

Medical Intensive Care Unit

The opportunity for fellows to act as primary care or consulting attending physician in the MICU is available at all four sites. This is a one month elective in which the fellow is viewed as the attending physician in the ICU with a designated faculty attending physician available for assistance. It is the intention of the training program to provide an opportunity to senior fellows to assume an attending role in a supportive environment in preparation for their clinical duties upon graduation. Fellows are either primarily in charge of a patient-care team consisting of medical residents/interns and medical students or act as consultant to the ICU. Night call is every fourth night (FUMC and Regions) and weekend call is 1 to 2 weekends in the month-long rotation. 

Coronary Intensive Care Unit

All four sites offer a one-month rotation in which the fellow is a member of the team caring for patient in the CCU. Fellows participate in daily rounds, provide consultative services for pulmonary and critical care problems in CCU patients, and perform procedures. The fellows are not primary care physicians for any of the CCU patients, nor is there any night call. 

Sleep Disorders

This elective offers an intense experience in sleep disorders at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Laboratory and Clinic, one of the first sleep centers in the nation. The Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Laboratory and Clinic has a national reputation as a superb clinical and academic sleep center and evaluates a broad spectrum of sleep diseases including obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, REM sleep disorders, and pediatric sleep disorders. Faculty of the Sleep Center come from Pulmonary/Critical Care, Neurology, Pediatrics, ENT, and Psychiatry. This is a one-month elective in which fellows evaluate patients with sleep problems and read sleep studies under the supervision of the Sleep Center faculty. If individual fellows are interested in sleep disease as a career, arrangements can be made for a longer and more intense exposure to sleep medicine at the Hennepin County Regional Sleep Center, leading to board eligibility in sleep medicine. There is no night call on this elective. 

Other electives available

Echocardiology
Consultative Cardiology
CEU
Dialysis/Renal
Infectious Disease
Burn ICU (Regions)
Pediatric ICU
Bone Marrow Transplantation
Cardiovascular Surgery
Respiratory Care
Anesthesiology
Lung Transplantation
Adult Cystic Fibrosis