Special Programs
Multi-Institutional Education Program
Our fellowship program at the University of Maryland participates in a multi-institutional education program as part of the DC-Baltimore Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) Education Consortium.
The consortium consists of PCCM and CCM programs from eight institutions:
- University of Maryland
- NIH Clinical Center
- Washington Hospital Center
- Georgetown University
- George Washington University
- Johns Hopkins Hospital
- Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
- Howard University
The University of Maryland is one of the primary sites for leadership coordination and educational activities.
The program consists of a three-week introductory course in July and a one-week advanced course in January. All our first-year fellows participate in the course prior to the start of clinical rotations.
Topics are determined by the course directors and include mechanical ventilation, evidence-based medicine, ultrasound, radiology, pulmonary and critical care topics, physiology and procedures.
Content delivery consists of pre-recorded lecture material and pre-reading, which is then reinforced by practical demonstrations, small group exercises, simulations and procedural training in a cadaver lab.
Fellows have expressed very high levels of satisfaction with the organization, value and community of this educational program. The collaboration among multiple institutions allows us to pool faculty resources and expertise to provide a comprehensive educational experience for all our fellows throughout their fellowship training, including the DC-5 pulmonary and critical care core curriculums.
Maryland CC Project
Critical Care Medicine fellows have designed and developed their own critical care education blog called Maryland CC Project. This site hosts videocast and podcast recordings of our Multidisciplinary Critical Care core content lecture series.
The site also functions as an open forum for fellows to teach each other—and the world—by sharing interesting clinical case scenarios encountered during their fellowship, important literature updates, pearls and pitfalls learned while working in the different intensive care units of the hospital and much more.
Visit the Maryland CC Project Blog
Simulation Centers
The Maryland Advanced Simulation, Training, Research and Innovation (MASTRI) Center and Shock Trauma Center Simulation Labs are innovative, research-driven, high-technology, state-of-the-art training centers.
Their goals are to lead in evaluation, development, and testing emerging simulation technologies and techniques and in the ongoing transformation of surgery and other medical procedures.
Additionally, they are premier educational environments devoted to the training of health care practitioners across a diverse spectrum, with a focus on how users learn and adapt to new technologies.
Our PCCM fellows participate in simulation models for diagnostic bronchoscopy, EBUS, chest tube insertion, difficult airway intubations, cricothyroidotomies and endobronchial blocker placement. The bronchoscopy simulation software is a major learning tool for the fellows as they develop proficiency with this procedure.
In addition, the fellows participate in a longitudinal simulation curriculum with repetitive skills sessions throughout the year.
Bronchoscopy
The Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine has a long-standing reputation for expertise in bronchoscopy with more than 1,000 procedures performed each year. The section of Interventional Pulmonology (IP) is an integral part of our division, and fellows can develop proficiency with diagnostic bronchoscopy and EBUS through their fellowship training.
The IP program offers a complete array of diagnostic, therapeutic and palliative airway procedures, including:
- Navigation bronchoscopy
- Rigid bronchoscopy
- LASER therapy
- APC
- Cryotherapy
- Tumor debulking
- Stenting
The IP service is also very active in the management of patients with pleural disease with expertise in related procedures.
Our fellows have numerous opportunities to gain exposure and experience within the realm of IP through inpatient and outpatient rotations at UMMC, UMMC–Midtown and BVAMC.
Although it is not possible for a PCCM fellow to become proficient in all areas of IP during a three-year combined fellowship, the training with diagnostic and interventional bronchoscopy allows each fellow to develop a very good understanding of the field and to make well-informed decisions about their areas of interest in their future careers.
Sleep Medicine
The Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Maryland is a multidisciplinary center performing comprehensive clinical and laboratory evaluation of patients with a variety of sleep disorders. The center maintains an outpatient clinic and a sleep laboratory.
Specialists from diverse fields including ENT, Psychiatry, Dentistry, Neurology, and Pediatrics evaluate and manage a wide variety of pulmonary and non-pulmonary sleep disorders.
Fellows rotate through the outpatient sleep center, engage in research projects linked to sleep disorders and develop clinical skills necessary for the management of sleep-disordered breathing within the framework of a pulmonary medicine practice.
Wellness
At the University of Maryland—and within the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine—we support a positive work-life balance. We balance our inpatient curriculum and formal didactic education with simulation sessions and procedural training.
We have a sick-call system set up in the event that a trainee needs coverage. Each trainee is also given four weeks of vacation per year and allowed family leave, as appropriate.
Our fellowship includes numerous opportunities for socialization with the other fellows and with the faculty within the division. We have a tiered mentorship program based on the lobes of the lung—our favorite organ!—designed to pair an attending physician with senior and junior fellows to promote camaraderie.