The medical house staff or house officers for the CSICU are comprised of residents and fellows. The majority of fellows are fully trained anesthesiologists who are obtaining further training in cardiac anesthesia. In addition to their duties within the CSICU, these fellows also train in the peri-operative use of transesophageal echocardiography and spend time obtaining subspecialty training in cardiac anesthesia. Fellows come from across the globe to gain this expertise.
Trainees in adult critical care also rotate through the CSICU as part of their education. Depending on their background subspecialty, critical care residents or fellows, will devote one to two months of their time within the CSICU.
Finally, a number of different residency training programs require that their residents have adequate exposure to the care of the postoperative cardiac surgical patient. In particular anesthesia and cardiac surgery residents will rotate through the CSICU in one-to-two month blocks.
The patient population within the CSICU encompasses a wide spectrum of cardiac surgical procedures, including heart transplants. House staff are expected to manage all aspects of the postoperative care of these patients in concert with the surgical team and other subspecialties as is required. Trainees gain valuable experience in variety of peri-operative issues including, pulmonary artery catheter management, vasoactive medications and weaning from mechanical ventilation. In addition to its function as a recovery unit for postoperative cardiac patients, the CSICU also functions as a fully serviced intensive care unit. Thus house staff will manage a wide array of critical care issues, including acute renal failure, ARDS, sepsis and ventilator associated pneumonia, just to name a few.
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