CRITICAL CARE

The vision of the cardiac care unit rotation is to expose the future practicing internist to the highly specialized and amazingly lifesaving world of intensive care cardiology. Cardiovascular disease is present along a wide spectrum from undetectable to acutely life-threatening. On this rotation, the resident will help manage the care of acutely ill cardiac patients with conditions including acute myocardial infarction, cardiogenic shock, heart failure, valvular heart disease, and unstable cardiac arrhythmias. This rotation will also expose the residents to therapies in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, advanced hemodynamic monitoring, principles of pacing, mechanical circulatory assist devices such as intra-aortic balloon pumps percutaneous and surgical left and right ventricular assist devices, and extracorporeal life support.

This rotation will challenge residents to dive deep into the literature and to learn about and apply evidence based medicine through discussion of various studies that have led to modern clinical decisions and treatment options. The rotation has been designed for the PGY -2 resident to give them a mid-residency career experience that will allow them additional time in their PGY-3 year to have an enhanced knowledge of advanced cardiology prior to independent practice.