Advanced Practice Providers Fellowship

The UPMC Critical Care Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship is a 12-month, postgraduate training program for Physician Assistants and Acute Care Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners interested in advanced training in adult critical care medicine. 

CCM APP fellows train alongside their physician counterparts to gain the in-depth knowledge and technical skills necessary to care for a full range of critically ill patients. Areas of critical care focus include general medical, general surgical, cardiothoracic, trauma, neurotrauma, neurovascular, OB/GYN, and transplant.

Fellows graduate with a Certificate in Critical Care Medicine, and during training receive a stipend, health insurance coverage, and other benefits.

Eligibility

ELIGIBILITY FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS

  • Physician Assistants must be:
    • A graduate of an accredited Physician Assistants program or eligible for graduation at the time of interview.
    • PANCE certified through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants.
    • In possession of an active Pennsylvania physician assistant license

ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE PRACTITIONERS

  • Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners must be:
    • A graduate of an accredited Adult-Geriatric or Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program (Master’s or Doctoral) or eligible for graduation at the time of interview.
    • Board-certified (e.g. ANCC, AANP)
    • In possession of an active Pennsylvania Registered nurse and nurse practitioner license
Application and Interviews

APPLICATION

Applications for the APP Fellowship are accepted through the UPMC Talent Acquisition portal.  You will also find more information about career opportunities as an APP for the Department of Critical Care Medicine on the portal.

The deadline to apply for the APP Fellowship is January 31 prior to the start of the year.

In addition to the online application, please submit the following materials by email to CCM APP Leadership at CCMAPPLeadership@upmc.edu

  • Personal statement of no more than two double-spaced pages indicating your career goals and objectives and the reasons for your interest in advanced critical care training.
  • Transcripts from all colleges and universities attended.
  • Two letters of recommendation, one from a current program director or clinical coordinator. If more than two years since graduation, one from the most recent supervising/collaborating physician.
  • BLS and ACLS certificates.

INTERVIEWS

Interviews typically occur between January and February. Highly qualified applicants will be contacted by our CCM APP Leadership to schedule an interview date.

AFTER ACCEPTANCE

We will contact accepted candidates in March. Start date is July 1st. If you are looking to start Fellowship sooner than July, please inquire about a potential earlier start date.

Goals and Objectives

Our multidisciplinary training program employs a mix of hands-on clinical experience, interactive workshops, medical simulation, and didactic education.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Residents obtain hands-on clinical experience and advanced instruction in:

  • Management of acute cerebrovascular disease, shock, sepsis, acute respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, and other critical illness syndromes.
  • Pathophysiology of critical illness, including advanced neurological monitoring, cardiopulmonary physiology, hemodynamic monitoring, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
  • Care of patients with acute neurological conditions, multisystem organ failure, acute infection, traumatic injury, and post-surgical critical illness.
  • Communication skills, including patient and family interaction, end-of-life care, and care of the geriatric patient.
  • Mechanical ventilation, extra-corporeal life support, intracranial neurological monitoring, and point-of-care ultrasound.
  • ICU procedures including endotracheal intubation, central venous catheterization, and chest-tube placement

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES

Unique educational activities include:

  • Hands-on simulation workshops including difficult airway management, central venous catheterization, point-of-care ultrasound, and bronchoscopy.
  • A Critical Care Communication Course providing state-of-the-art training in end-of-life discussions with family members using trained actors.
  • Weekly interactive lectures in which trainees learn from international experts in the field.
  • Weekly department-wide educational conferences including Journal Club, Grand Rounds, and Morbidity & Mortality conference.
Clinical Rotations

Fellows receive 12 months of critical care training structured around 9 - 6-week ICU rotations. Two of the 9 rotations are electives chosen by the fellow and may be off-service or in an ICU of their choice.

  • Surgical ICU - 1 block
  • Surgical-Trauma ICU - 1 block
  • Neurotrauma ICU - 1 block
  • Neurovascular ICU - 1 block
  • Cardiothoracic ICU - 1 block
  • Transplant ICU - 1 block
  • Magee Women’s Hospital ICU - 1 block
  • Electives/Off-service rotations - 2 blocks
Contact

For inquiries about the APP Fellowship, please contact CCM APP Leadership at CCMAPPLeadership@upmc.edu

Tina Day, DNP, ACNP-BC, CCM APP Program Director

Robert Bauer, MSN, AG-ACNP-BC, Co-Director CCM APP Education

Erika Bassett, PA-C, Co-Director CCM APP Operations

Social Media

Department of Critical Care Medicine at Pitt (@ccmpittofficial) • Instagram photos and videos

Pittsburgh CCM Fellowship (@pittsburghccm) • Instagram photos and videos

https://twitter.com/PCCMPittsburgh

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