Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Overview

The Surgical Critical Care (SCC) Fellowship program at UT Health San Antonio is designed to create leaders in trauma surgery and surgical critical care through intensive clinical exposure to complex surgical critical care, the development of administrative skills required to manage a modern surgical intensive care unit, and involvement in various educational and clinical research opportunities.

The one-year SCC fellowship is fully accredited for three fellows per year by the ACGME. For those who are interested, an additional year consisting of Trauma Surgery and/or research is available. The Trauma Surgery year consists of dedicated clinical training on the Trauma and Emergency Surgery service at University Hospital, the lead Level 1 trauma center in San Antonio, a city consisting of over 1.5 million people and the 7th largest city in the nation. During the second year, fellows also have the opportunity to earn the degree of Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) from UT Health San Antonio.

The UT Health San Antonio SCC program is a member of the TRISAT multi-institutional education consortium, consisting of the three major San Antonio critical care programs: UT Health San Antonio Surgical Critical Care, UT Health San Antonio Anesthesia Critical Care, and San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC) Surgical Critical Care. This affords our UT Health San Antonio SCC Fellows unique educational opportunities, including exposure to anesthesia critical care faculty as well as clinical rotations at military installations managing critically-ill military and combat casualties.

Clinical sites include

• University Hospital (Surgical Trauma ICU)
• Audie Murphy VA Hospital (Ultrasound, Surgical ICU)
• SAMMC (Surgical ICU, Trauma ICU)
• US Army Institute of Surgical Research (Burns)
• Methodist Hospital (Cardiovascular ICU)

Webcast Lecture Series

The UT Health San Antonio SCC program also offers a strong didactic experience through its multi-institutional weekly webcast lecture series that is currently viewed on a routine basis by institutions across the country, and a comprehensive Reading Compendium, which consists of over 120 articles, organized into 12 SCC topics.

Research

Fellows also have the opportunity and are encouraged to participate in any of the ongoing research projects that encompass trauma, critical care, emergency surgery, and burns. Additionally, Fellows can develop their own projects depending on individual interests. Trauma faculty research focuses on new and innovative ways to improve the care, management, and treatment of trauma and critically ill patients. Ongoing research includes industry-sponsored studies, grant-sponsored multi-institutional studies, and investigator-driven studies in areas such as acute lung injury, ARDS, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), intra-abdominal infections, critical care diagnostic devices, surgical infection, and surgical nutrition.

Application

Qualified applicants must have completed an ACGME-accredited General Surgery residency prior to starting fellowship and must be either board-eligible or board-certified by the American Board of Surgery.

Interview offers will be sent via email. Interviews are typically conducted between April and July, and positions are filled through the NRMP Match.

Fellows who are able to obtain a Texas license prior to starting fellowship are appointed as faculty and are given the opportunity to take faculty trauma and emergency surgery call. With two in-house trauma/critical care faculty 24/7/365, assistance is immediately available during call periods.

Additional Information:

NRMP
GME Office