CTICU PA Fellowship Program

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CTICU Overview

In the Mount Sinai CTICU, PAs are highly trusted and essential members of the cardiothoracic team on critical care floors. They provide continuity of care, compassion to our patients, bedside hemodynamic management and perform ICU procedures. Due to the specialized nature and intensity of the CTICU, prior experience and a deeper understanding of critical care medicine and cardiothoracic surgery is required to practice successfully as a PA in this setting. The Mount Sinai CTICU PA Fellowship is created with a rigorous curriculum and clinical experience to help meet the growing need for experienced critical care providers with a special emphasis on cardiothoracic surgery and critical care.

The Mount Sinai Cardiothoracic Critical Care (CTICU) PA Fellowship is a 12-month program designed for PAs seeking advanced training in Cardiothoracic surgery and Critical Care. It builds upon the basic clinical foundations taught in PA school and advances trainees towards managing complex cardiac patients. This includes critically ill patients with disorders of the neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems.

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The mission of the Mount Sinai CTICU PA Fellowship program is to educate and train recently graduated board-certified PAs to become competent and trustworthy providers as members of a Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Team. It is our aim to provide PA Fellows with exposure to both common and complex cardiothoracic surgery cases, as well as expand their understanding of the fundamentals of critical care medicine including the diagnosis, pathophysiology and treatment of critical illness with special emphasis on the disease pathologies leading to cardiac surgery. The knowledge base, critical thinking, management and procedural skills gained by our PA Fellows will be applicable across any desired area of future practice, particularly a career in any CTICU. We aim to advance the PA profession by instilling the qualities of leadership, participation in national organizations, and continued emphasis on research and education among our graduates.

Mount Sinai Mission Statement Core Values

Required Texts:
Bojar, R., 2011. Manual of perioperative care and adult cardiac surgery. Wiley-Blackwell.
Marino, P., n.d. Marino's The ICU Book. 4th ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Didactic Curriculum & Educational Opportunities:
Weekly reading assignments and guided independent study (Based on required texts)
Daily rounds and ICU lectures
Dedicated PA fellow’s weekly lecture series
Monthly critical care journal club
Guided problem based learning via monthly case presentations
Participation in Morbidity & Mortality Conference
Participation in Institute for Critical Care Grand Rounds
Participation in Cardiac Anesthesia Grand Rounds
Participation in Leadership, Diversity & Core Safety Lecture Series
Competency training in Mechanical Support Device Series: LVAD HMII and HMIII, Impella, IABP, Centrimag ECMO
Attendance to monthly Mount Sinai Health System PA Grand Rounds
Attendance and participation to weekly cardiac education series in conjunction with Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and Catheter Lab

Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Focus Areas:
Aortic Stenosis/Regurgitation
Aortic Valve Disease
Aortic Valve Replacement
Bacterial Endocarditis
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
Cardiac Tumor
Cardiothoracic Surgery Consultation
Congenital Heart Defect Correction
Coronary Artery Disease
Coronary Bypass Surgery
Endocarditis
Heart Murmur
Heart Valve Repair / Valvuloplasty
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Ischemic Cardiomyopathy
Minimally Invasive Heart Valve Repair and Replacement
Mitral Regurgitation
Mitral Stenosis
Mitral Valve Disease
Mitral Valve Prolapse
Mitral Valve Repair
Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
Tricuspid Valve Disease
Valvular Heart Disease

Rotations
Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit
Operating Room
Cardiothoracic Step Down
Pre-op Testing/ER/Admitting Team

Clinical Responsibilities
Responsibilities will include complete history and physical, daily rounds, diagnostic and medication ordering, bedside hemodynamic management and routine ICU procedures with expansion in further clinical duties, responsibilities and patient load as is deemed appropriate by the fellowship leadership throughout the tenure of the fellow. PA Fellows will be expected to have formal evaluations of their clinical skills at the end of each rotation to be completed by preceptors and the program director.

Time Commitment
5-10 hours of independent study weekly
Five Clinical shifts per week
4-6 hours of guided core didactic curriculum
Monthly Journal Club participation
Monthly Morbidity and Mortality meeting
Completion of skills proficiency assessments
Completion of pre/ post rotation exams
Participation in daily educational opportunities: daily rounds, attending lectures, skills workshops

Supervision
PA Fellows will be under the direct supervision of a licensed PA Preceptor and the Medical Director at all times.
Fellows will be responsible for their patients' care in conjunction with their PA Preceptor and ICU Attending, and will be functioning members of the Cardiothoracic ICU team.

Competitive Base Salary for PA Fellowship
Comprehensive benefits package
PTO
403b and contributions
Comprehensive health insurance
Short and long term disability, pretax benefits (transit, childcare, flex cash, etc)

Awarded Credentials:
At the end of the program PA Fellows will be presented with a Certificate of Fellowship Completion signed by the Medical Director of the Program and The Program Director.
Our CTICU program is not yet an accredited fellowship program, but follows all APPAP and ARC-PA accreditation recommendations.

All applicants must submit the following to be considered:
Graduate Transcripts from Accredited Masters PA Program
Current or scheduled NCCPA board certification
Actively Pending or Received NY State Physician Assistant License
Current DEA License
Current ACLS and BLS cards must be American Heart Association accredited

Two Letters of Recommendation:

  • One must be from a Program Director or Physician
  • Second must be from a PA ( Preceptor, PA Faculty, Lead PA, colleague etc.)

Current Professional Photo

Application Form Here

Timeline

Applications Deadline: May 15th
Interview Window Closes: June 15th
Final Program Decisions: June 30th
Fellows Start Date: October

If your program graduation date does not allow for an October start date we would still encourage you to apply as we will be accepting applications on a rolling basis with start dates to be determined after individual acceptance to the program.

Submit completed applications to: CTICUPAFellowship@mountsinai.org

Krista Udd PA-C is the CTICU PA Fellowship Director. She has been a member of the CTICU family since joining Mount Sinai Hospital in 2017. Krista obtained her Bachelor's of Science from the University of Arizona and her Master's degree from the Physician Assistant Program at Campbell University in North Carolina. She then went on to complete a PA Fellowship in critical care at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Krista is an active member of AAPA, APPAP, NYSSPA, and APACVS.

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Dr. Varghese is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and the Director of Cardiovascular Critical Care for the Mount Sinai Health System. In this role, he strives to achieve outstanding quality based outcomes for all cardiac surgery patients of the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Varghese believes that along with surgical excellence, meticulous postoperative care is required to ensure a successful outcome for patients after cardiac surgery.

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Learn more about the award winning Mount Sinai Cardiothoracic Surgery Program and CTICU Team:

If you have any further questions or need more information about life as a CTICU PA Fellow email us at CTICUPAFellowship@mountsinai.org, we would love to hear from you!

Cardiothoracic ICU Team

Contact Us

If you have any further questions or need more information about life as a CTICU PA Fellow email us at CTICUPAFellowship@mountsinai.org, we would love to hear from you!

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