Pediatric critical care fellowship
The Advocate Children's Hospital - Park Ridge Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) training program was established in 1991. The three-year program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for three PCCM fellows.
Purpose of the training program
The Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) Fellowship is designed to develop skilled, knowledgeable pediatric intensivists capable of managing the full spectrum of life-threatening conditions in children and young adults. Our goal is to cultivate clinical excellence, leadership, and expertise in the delivery of comprehensive, evidence-based quaternary critical care.
This includes in-depth training in:
- Advanced life support techniques, including all forms of cardiopulmonary resuscitation
- Advanced cardiopulmonary support, including ECMO
- Neurocritical care and management of acute neurologic injuries
- Pediatric transport medicine
- Trauma care and triage
- Renal and hepatic failure management, including CRRT and hemofiltration
- Management of toxicologic emergencies
- Hematologic and infectious disease complications
- Continuous physiologic monitoring and support
- Nutritional support for critically ill children
- Perioperative care of children with complex congenital heart disease
- Diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy
- Bedside ultrasonography
Quaternary-care pediatrics
Our fellows benefit from training across a broad range of pediatric critical illness. At Advocate Children’s Hospital – Park Ridge, fellows serve as primary decision-makers in the multidisciplinary care of patients admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. They also rotate through the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Advocate Children’s Hospital – Oak Lawn, the busiest cardiac surgery program in Chicago, where they manage patients with complex congenital heart disease. Additionally, fellows gain specialized experience caring for solid-organ and bowel transplant recipients at the transplant unit of Lurie Children’s Hospital.
This diverse clinical exposure ensures that graduates are well-equipped to care for critically ill children across all settings of quaternary-care pediatrics.
Clinical research
An intensive foundation in both basic science and clinical research is a core component of the fellowship. Fellows may engage in clinical research under the mentorship of pediatric intensivists or collaborating subspecialists, fostering scholarly growth in areas aligned with their academic interests. Advocate is uniquely positioned as a major part of the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance (CCHA), which also includes University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital and Endeavor Health. CCHA allows for more seamless collaboration across these institutions and provides our fellows access to the largest number of pediatric patients in the Chicagoland area. In addition, with our recent merger with Atrium Health, our fellows also have the opportunity to collaborate with scientists at Wake Forest University and Levine Children’s Hospital in North Carolina.