Our Mission
Surgical Critical Care: The Integrated Fellowship
Our Leadership
The Application Process

The first Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the world, a postoperative neurosurgical unit, was developed at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1928 by Walter Dandy, M.D. Today, the Johns Hopkins Hospital operates six Adult ICUs, a Pediatric ICU, and a Neonatal ICU. Our affiliate, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (JHBMC), has five Adult ICUs, including the Regional Burn Unit, and one Pediatric ICU.

For uniquely qualified individuals a second year on acute care surgery (trauma surgery, emergency general surgery, elective general surgery, trauma systems and clinical investigation) is available . Acting as an attending surgeon with an appointment as a clinical instructor at Johns Hopkins, acute care surgery fellows treat remarkably ill and injured patients and teach surgical residents. Fellows commonly perform more than 200 major cases as the primary surgeon over the course of the year.

Our Mission

• To provide an educational environment optimized for the development of clinician/basic science leaders in multidisciplinary surgical critical care
• To build mastery in diagnosis and management of complex problems in critically ill patients
• To acquire an appreciation for the depth and breadth of the specialty of critical care medicine including:
  • Scientific principles
  • Medicolegal issues
  • Ethical dilemmas
  • Administrative duties
  • Educator responsibilities and benefits
• To learn principles of study design and statistical analysis
• To appreciate the role of information management in the critical care setting
• To provide clinical and basic science research opportunities.

Surgical Critical Care: The Integrated Fellowship

This fellowship in critical care surgery is an integrated fellowship, including faculty and trainees from both the Department of Surgery and the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. The core program is centered in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU, 15 beds) and the Weinberg Intensive Care Unit (Weinberg ICU, 20 beds). Patients, representing more than 5,000 patient-days, are admitted from the adult trauma, transplant, vascular, thoracic, orthopedic, plastic, obstetric, gynecologic-oncology, endocrine, and other surgical services. Additional rotations in the Cardiac Surgical ICU, Medical ICU, Neurosciences Critical Care Unit and Oncology ICU are routinely provided. Rotations through the Pediatric ICU and the Burn ICU (at Johs Hopkins Bayview Medical Center) are available. Electives are additionally available in medical and surgical subspecialties.

Our Leadership

The SICU and Weinberg ICU are covered by faculty members from the Department of Surgery and Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) at Johns Hopkins.

The Application Process

The Johns Hopkins Surgical Critical Care Fellowship participates in the SCC and ACS Fellowship Application Service (SAFAS) and the NRMP Match. The SAFAS typically opens in January, with an application deadline of August, to start fellowship the following August. Interviews based on the SAFAS will be held each summer for fellowships starting the following year. The NRMP Match typically opens in June, with a Rank Order List deadline in September and Match Day in October for fellowships starting the following August. Use of both the SAFAS and the NRMP Match is required.

Applications for the fellowship via the Johns Hopkins Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine follow a different process; please see the ACCM Adult Critical Care Fellowship page for details.

About 2/3 of Acute Care Surgery fellows are drawn from the pool of current Surgical Critical Care fellows. Applicants need not have decided whether to continue into the second year before starting their first; further discussions typically arise during the first few months of the critical care fellowship. Applicants for the Acute Care Surgery fellowship who will have completed a critical care fellowship elsewhere should contact the Acute Care Surgery Fellowship Director.