The Critical Care Medicine Unit (CCMU) is staffed by pulmonary critical care faculty. Trainees from various specialties help to care for these patients including ICU fellows from various disciplines including residents, interns and medical students as well as a multidisciplinary team of other health care providers. This experience provides the opportunity to develop skills in the diagnosis and management of problems that are less common in surgical ICUs. Some of the issues frequently encountered during this rotation include:
- Management of acute and chronic causes of respiratory failure, including advanced management of acute respiratory distress syndrome
- Experience in a variety of non-surgical conditions requiring ICU care, including:
- diagnosis and management of sepsis from a variety of non-surgical causes
- complications from complex/rare medical conditions especially connective tissue disorders, inflammatory conditions, immuno-suppressed states
- acute and chronic causes of hepatic dysfunction
- complications related to malignancies including immuno-suppression and bone marrow transplantation - Chronic conditions that periodically worsen and require intensive therapies including chronic respiratory diseases, infections such as HIV, seizure disorders
- Acute management of toxin, alcohol and drug exposures/overdoses
- Ethical issues surrounding care of debilitated patients or those with advanced age or terminal conditions
