The Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) Senior Fellowship Program at Boston Children’s Hospital trains two to five senior fellows a year following an interprofessional, team-based care model. There are ample opportunities to develop expertise in our 44-bed medical and surgical cardiac unit where you will manage a broad range of patients, from neonates to adults with acquired or congenital heart disease. As a senior fellow, you are integral to the community and healthcare delivery in our complex, high-acuity environment.

The senior fellows in our CICU oversee diverse teams with varied clinical backgrounds and skillsets. You will acquire the skills to teach, supervise procedures, and lead rounds independently by the latter half of the one-year training program. There are opportunities for administrative roles that support the function of the entire CICU (including nursing, respiratory therapy, ECMO) as well as clinical leadership and quality improvement opportunities that connect the CICU with the Benderson Family Heart Center, the hospital at large, and outside institutions.

Research is not a focus of the training year because of the heavy clinical responsibilities and relatively short period of time in which to complete a project, but we are happy to establish an active mentorship and initiate research projects before the official academic year begins.

Each senior fellow co-creates a plan of study at the start of the training experience. This proactively establishes a month-by-month schedule that addresses your knowledge and procedural skills gaps and identifies opportunities to strengthen your unique interests. Diverse electives are available in order to support the differing training paths that lead to this sub-specialty year.

A weekly one-hour seminar is dedicated to your senior fellow team’s education. Senior Fellow Seminar covers advanced topics in pediatric cardiology, cardiac intensive care, cardiac surgery, and the skills needed to successfully transition to faculty (e.g., leading interprofessional teams, principles of adult learning, awareness of cognitive biases).

Each senior fellow undergoes a 360 evaluation approximately six months into their training. This feedback — obtained anonymously from CICU faculty, non-physician clinicians in the CICU, patients and families, and your own self-reflections — is discussed with you. Goals for the second half of the training year are discussed within the context of this feedback and your own insights.

Our typical academic experience runs from July to June, but we have trained several international fellows on different calendar schedules, expanded the program to meet the needs of those interested in additional sub-specialty training (such as training in heart failure and transplant), and condensed the experience for outside institutions wishing to support their own faculty with additional CICU exposure.

Our senior fellowship program has very high clinical, administrative, and research expectations. We embrace opportunities for collaboration locally, nationally, and internationally. We are dedicated to training future cardiac intensivists around the world with a growth mindset approach to excellence.

Contact information

Lynne Patkin
Boston Children’s Hospital, Department of Cardiology
300 Longwood Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
Lynne.Patkin@CARDIO.CHBOSTON.ORG

Sarah Teele, MD
Senior Fellowship Director, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Department of Cardiology
sarah.teele@cardio.chboston.org