Critical Care Medicine Elective
We offer a 4-week pediatric critical care medicine elective to 4th year medical students.
Objectives
- Introduce students to the pathophysiology of critical illness in children and how an understanding of physiology influences management and treatment of critically ill children in the PICU
- Learn and continue to improve critical thinking and communication skills that facilitate an organized approach to complex medical data
- Introduce students to a multidisciplinary model of patient care in the PICU
Description
- Observe and participate in the system for transport, stabilization and tertiary care management of children with acute life-threatening emergencies
- Examine patients and actively participate in the care of patients in the PICU
- Observe and participate in invasive and non-invasive monitoring of patients in the PICU – including patients with severe central nervous system injury, hemodynamic instability, respiratory failure, and post operative management of patients after congenital heart surgery
- Participate in the multidisciplinary approach to patient management by interacting professionally with members of various disciplines in the care of critically ill patients
- Actively participate in educational activities in the PICU including preparing and presenting a short review of an ICU topic.
Typical daily schedule
- Examine patients and gather patient data
- Formulate patient assessment and plan
- Formal morning rounds with ICU team
- Noon conference / other educational conferences
- Admit/transfer patients in the PICU
- Follow-up on plan of care of patient from rounds
- Sign out of patients to on-call team
Night Call/Special Requirements
You are required to spend at least one night call per week with a PICU senior resident, with one of the call days being a Saturday.