Benefits Of Pursuing A Fellowship In Intensive Care Medicine

Niyati Puri

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Critical care is one of medicine's most dynamic and challenging branches. This medical stream is responsible for managing critical patients in the hospital and providing them with the necessary life support for survival. As an intensive care doctor, you will be responsible for treating patients who are acutely unwell or require critical medical care. This specific branch in medicine involves expertise in techniques like CPR, invasive and noninvasive ventilation, trauma care and more. Read on to know how you can benefit from pursuing a fellowship in Intensive Care Medicine.

What is an Intensive care medicine fellowship program all about?

The intensive care medicine fellowship program has gained immense momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic hit millions across the globe. There was a massive surge in the number of patients admitted to the ICU, but the doctor-to-patient ratio was poor. Due to which, many healthcare professionals took the time to upskill in intensive care medicine to help people suffering from COVID.

The skills one learns as a part of the Intensive care medicine fellowship program include:

Policies and procedures followed in ICU
Documentation of cases in ICU
Clinical handover
Diagnosis and management of respiratory disorders
Ventilator therapy
Diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases
Cardiac emergency management
Diagnosis and management of renal disease
Metabolic disorders Management
Infectious diseases Management
Management of autoimmune diseases
Management of hypovolemic shock
Obstetric complications and their critical care management
Trauma care
Management of toxicology cases
Environmental hazard cases management
Transport of critically ill patients
Control of infections in immunocompromised patients
Post-operative care
Discharge planning

The Intensive Care Medicine course is entirely self-paced and includes a case-based study learning approach. The program also facilitates training program where students have the opportunity to perform tasks, make decisions, and use equipment appropriate to the various scenarios faced in the ICU.

What is intensive care medicine?

A medical specialty known as intensive care medicine, often known as critical care medicine, treats seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of having, or are recovering from illnesses that could be life-threatening. It involves giving life support, using intrusive monitoring methods, performing CPR, and providing end-of-life care. Medical professionals in this field are called intensivists, critical care specialists, or intensive care physicians.

A critical care unit in the hospital is a distinct, self-contained unit within a healthcare facility that houses sophisticated, specialized equipment for careful observation, prompt treatment, and frequently prolonged care of patients with severe organ dysfunction.

Multidisciplinary teams consisting of different medical specialists are essential to intensive care. These teams frequently consist of medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists. They collaborate in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) to run it efficiently.

Common conditions that need critical care:

Some of the most common cases an Intensivist might encounter in the critical care unit are :

Heart attack
Stroke
Poisoning
Pneumonia
Surgical complications
Trauma from road accidents
Burns
Allergic reactions
Sepsis
Respiratory failure
Cancer-related critical care

Required skills of an Intensivist or Intensive care specialist:

As an Intensive care specialist, you are responsible for the wellness of patients with end-stage or critical health issues. To manage the cases efficiently and improve the well-being of the patients, an Intensivist needs to have a specific set of soft skills and technical skills.

Some of the most required technical skills required are:

Advanced cardiac life support (ACLS)
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
Trauma care
Post-operative care
Cardiac emergency management
Mechanical and noninvasive ventilation
Assessment of ECG and Echocardiography reports
Discharge planning
Patient/family education

Apart from the aforementioned technical skills, one should also have some soft skills that will enhance credibility and give an edge over the rest.

An intensive care unit is a special wing consisting of a special team to manage it. Hence to be able to be to run an ICU efficiently, one requires soft skills like:

Communication skills
Compassion
Reliability
Trust building
Planning
Critical thinking
Problem-solving
Quick decision making
Team spirit
Time management
Computer literacy
Research

The above skill sets will help any practitioner, even if one chooses not to work in ICU. Critical care skill sets can come in handy even in general setups. Learning skills like quick diagnosis, critical thinking, reasoning, and quick decision-making will help a practitioner gain an edge in practice.

Benefits of enrolling a fellowship in Intensive care medicine :

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that our current medical system lacks professionals efficient in managing an ICU. To bridge this gap and have effective ICUs and better critical care for patients, a fellowship in Intensive care medicine is a must.

This intensive care medicine course will prepare the physician with all the techniques required to deal with end-stage diseases and critical cases. Since an ICU gets the sickest patients in a hospital, a physician skilled at handling such cases is a savior for the patients.

As a part of the program, a physician will be able to get the following benefits:

Get an edge in a competitive medical profession -A course in critical care will open your horizon as a skilled physician, and you can find roles as a specialist in the field in various multispecialty hospitals.
Enhance clinical expertise - Immediately after MBBS, the physician might not have enough knowledge and skills needed for practice or working at a hospital. A course like this will help you gain hands-on experience and in-depth knowledge to be an expert in the given field and get an edge over the rest. It will boost the confidence of the physician and improve credibility as well.
Refine soft skills - Doing a fellowship program or certificate course in Intensive care medicine will enhance your soft skills like communication skills, research, critical thinking, etc. While doing the course, you will also get good clinical exposure to help improve your knowledge. Also, a program like this will help you increase your network and get acquainted with various industry experts.
Flexible study module - Courses like these are flexible, and one can choose their timetable, unlike the postgraduate programs of an institute.
Chance to learn from the experts - The faculty that designs and teaches these courses are the experts in their domain. Hence, one has access to clinical and case-based knowledge instead of just theoretical or bookish knowledge.

Why take a fellowship program after MBBS?

Fellowship programs act as a supplement for students after the medical degree. They help you gain practical knowledge and build the required technical skill set for practicing or working in a hospital.

Fellowship courses give access to the latest information in the field and give you case-based study experience instead of theoretical knowledge. Also, while doing a fellowship course, one gets a chance to work under specialists and industry experts to gain practical and hand on experience in the specialization.

Why choose Medvarsity ?

Medvarsity offers fellowship courses across diverse medical specialties that help doctors acquire specialty-specific skills essential to reducing the burden on the healthcare system. Medvarsity’s fellowship programs are certified by the top global institutions worldwide. The course curriculum gets curated by expert subject faculty members from renowned medical institutions.

The Fellowship in Intensive care medicine by Medvarsity is a self-paced learning program that is a blend of extensive learning material, video-based lectures, and access to global case studies for broader insights into theory. Additionally, doctors enrolling in the Intensive care medicine course , get access to international books and journals from renowned publishers like McGraw Hill and Wolters Kluwer.