Frequently Asked Questions
What is the breakdown of clinical service and research during fellowship?
During the first year, fellows spend approximately 4 months in the PICU, 2 months in the CVICU, and 1 month on anesthesia. Throughout the weeks of service, in-total, about 4 months are spent on research and 1 month is spent on back-up. In addition, 2 weeks are dedicated to orientation during the first two weeks of July.
During the second year, approximately 3 months are spent in the PICU, 2 months in the CVICU, 1 month on back-up, and 6 months on research.
During the third year, fellows spend approximately 3 months in the PICU, 1 month in the CVICU, 1 month on back-up, and 7 months on research.
The PICU service blocks are 1-week rotations and the CVICU service blocks are 2-week rotations.
What are the PICU service weeks like?
Fellows rotate on all three PICU teams (A, B, C) during the year and throughout fellowship. A team is staffed by Pediatric and Emergency Medicine residents; B and C team are staffed by APPs and 1-2 residents. The patients on A team are a mix of general PICU patients and patients immediately status post liver or kidney transplant. The patients on B team are general PICU patients. The C team population is a mix of general patients and patients admitted to the Trauma or Neurosurgery services.
The on-service fellows arrive to work around 0630 each morning and leave after sign-out to the night team, which starts at 1700. Fellows take one 24-hour call during their service week either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Fellows do not post-call round. We have transitioned to a night flight system during the week (detailed below) ICU service weeks are usually preceded and followed by a week of back-up or research.
What is the call schedule?
Over the last year our fellows voiced an interest in a night float schedule. We trialed this during the winter period and it was really successful! Fellows seemed to like it, and we have since implemented it year-round. A nice side effect is that the fellows have more call-free weeks. The night float fellow works Monday through Thursday night. The on-service fellows cover the weekend nights. We have two fellows on at night Monday-Thursday and one at night the rest of the week.
In the CVICU, fellows take a 6-night block of night float either twice in the 1st and 2nd year and once during the 3rd year. During this week of night float, fellows have one night off between two three-night stretches.
Our program strictly adheres to the ACGME duty hour policy.
How much vacation time is available?
Three weeks of vacation are allocated for use in each year of training. In addition, there are 14 holidays. UT Southwestern has designated 3 days of the 14 Texas state holidays as “Floating Holidays” in order to give employees more flexibility in choosing their own time off.
If you are on clinical service during a holiday, you will bank the time as additional “Floating Holiday” hours to be taken at a later time.
For more information about the University time away and leave policy please refer here. Additionally, the program adheres to the American Board of Pediatrics Absences Policy, which can be found here.
Are there opportunities for electives?
Yes! Potential electives include additional CVICU, echocardiography, electrophysiology, cath lab, burn ICU, adult ICU, transport, palliative care, cardiac anesthesia, and cardiac surgery as well as the potential for a rotation in our Plano PICU.
Are funds available for books and conferences?
Yes, per University guidelines, fellows receive an educational allowance of $3,000 over the course of their entire program. These funds are allocated at $1,000 per year (not carried over from academic year to the next). The educational allowance may be used for conference travel, textbooks, board prep courses, journal subscriptions, and medical software.
Additional funds are available for fellows to attend and/or present at 1-2 conferences annually. Fellows also receive memberships to SCCM and AAP, a critical care textbook of choice, and SCCM question book during their fellowship.
What kinds of research do most fellows pursue?
Our fellows are able to take advantage of the wide range of scholarly activities within the UT Southwestern community. In recent years, approximately one third of our fellows pursue laboratory-based research projects, with mentors both within and outside the division of critical care. The other two thirds of our fellows have pursued clinical research projects in diverse areas, including renal replacement therapy, artificial intelligence and machine learning, ECMO, ultrasound, delirium, simulation, mechanical ventilation, medical education, and quality improvement.
What do fellows do after graduation?
The goal of our fellowship is to prepare future academic pediatric intensivists. In recent years, the majority of fellowship graduates end up in academic ICUs. We've also had a significant number of fellows pursue additional specialized training in cardiac intensive care, both single year programs and full cardiology fellowship programs. Recent graduates with interest in private practice settings have also been successful in landing excellent positions.
Below are several years of fellows first positions after leaving fellowship:
Stephanie Hsu - UTSW (Assistant Professor)
Kyle Miller - UT Dell Medical School - Austin (Assistant Professor)
Kathryn Best - East Carolina University (Assistant Professor)
Abdelaziz Farhat - Timpanogos General Hospital, Orem, UT
Kristen Henley - Children's Hospital of San Antonio, Baylor College of Medicine (Assistant Professor)
Neel Shah - Washington University/St. Louis Children's (Assistant Professor)
Danyal Thaver - Mercy Children's Hospital - Springfield, MO
Jamie Weller - Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship, UTSW
Ethan Sanford - UT Southwestern (Assistant Professor)
Erin Tresselt - UT Southwestern ( Assistant Professor)
Joshua Patterson - University of Health Sciences-SOM/At Naval Medical Center
Molly McGetrick - CVICU Instructorship - Texas Children's Hospital
Michael (Colin) Mowrer - Cook Children's Hospital
Colleen Menegaz - Palliative Care Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh
Clarie Jones - University of Tennesse HSC Chatanooga (Assistant Professor)
Matt Naumann - University of Oklahoma College of Medicine (Assistant Professor)
Prashantha Shanmugham - Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital
Natalia Testo - Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship, UT Southwestern
Natalia Soulages Arrese - University of Oklahoma (Assistant Professor)
Nicolle Diaz - Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital
Ali Hasan - UT Southwestern (Assistant Professor)
Chasity Custer - UT Southwestern (Assistant Professor)
Nick Bartel - UT Southwestern (Assistant Professor)
Zac Hodges - UT Southwestern (Assistant Professor)
Lisa Settle - CVICU Advanced Fellowship, UT Southwestern
Meredith DeCoy - University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (Assistant Professor)
Valerie Pallos - Maimonides Medical Center (Attending Physician)
Jesseca “Alex” Paulsen - Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (Assistant Professor)
Ryan Kwong - CVICU Advanced Fellowship, UT Southwestern
Will Lester - Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital
Morgan Neale - University of Oklahoma (Assistant Professor)
Hollie Statzer - Palliative Care Fellowship, UT Southwestern