​​​​​

Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Our goal is to train fellows to the advanced level of performance expected of board-certified subspecialists.

The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Baylor University Medical Center is a 1,008-bed tertiary care hospital in the heart of Dallas with a high level of acuity and approximately 39,000 admissions a year. Baylor Dallas is a Level 1 Trauma Center with approximately 2,400 admissions yearly, of which 20 percent are penetrating trauma. There are 123 total ICU beds, 57 of which are surgical ICU beds.

Our one-year program allows for fellows to develop proficiency in the intensive care unit and operative management of critically ill and injured patients, develop necessary qualifications to supervise surgical critical care units and conduct scholarly activities in trauma/surgical critical care.

We accept three fellows each year.

Curriculum

Our program is designed to provide surgical critical care fellows with an education in the principles and practice of advanced trauma and surgical critical care according to medical knowledge and patient care, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice and professionalism, as well as interpersonal and communication skills.

This is accomplished by exposing the surgical critical care fellows to a broad array of surgical illnesses through didactic instruction in the basic and clinical sciences, as well as education during teaching rounds, primary patient care, educational conferences and specialized rotations.

Upon completion of training, the surgical critical care fellows are expected to integrate the acquired knowledge into the clinical situation to demonstrate proficiency in:

  • Surgical critical care decision-making
  • Specific organ system support
  • Evaluation of new technology and treatment techniques
  • ICU administration
  • Outcomes assessment
  • Research design
  • Interaction with patients, families and other medical professionals

Our fellowship is individualized to each fellow and is focused on developing the fellow's future practices whether in academics or a private setting. The fellowship year is also customized to address specific deficits that fellows might have with respect to operative, non-operative and interventional management. 

The surgeons in the Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery at Baylor Dallas have always been closely involved in general surgery resident education, as well as research and quality initiatives.

The surgeons also serve as Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine faculty and are heavily involved in medical student education.

  • Surgical and trauma ICU (STICU) – four months
  • Cardiothoracic and transplant surgery ICU (CTICU) – four months
  • Medical intensive care unit (MICU) – one month
  • Acute care surgery – one month
  • Two elective months (only one can be non-surgical)

Operative experience is encouraged throughout the whole year, and we believe this is crucial in the training of the surgical critical care specialist.

Fellows participate in home call during the weekdays, but there is one dedicated fellow on call for the weekends. This allows for adequate time off.

Conferences for Surgical Critical Care Fellows include:

  • Weekly combined pulmonary critical care and surgical critical care/trauma didactic lectures
  • Weekly surgical critical care didactic lectures given by attendings, fellows, nurse practitioners and residents
  • Monthly Journal club
  • Process improvement and quality assurance meetings
  • Research meetings
  • Specialty conferences based on rotations

The fellows also will participate in the Multidisciplinary Critical Care Knowledge Assessment Program (MCCKAP) along with ASSET, ATLS and ATLS Instructor courses which are funded by the program.

Critical review of research is an integral requirement for the fellows. The fellows are expected to create two Practice Management Guidelines for Trauma topics and keep the current guidelines up to date.

Also, there are dedicated research lectures by active researchers and meetings with research support staff that includes a Director of Trauma Research who holds a Doctorate degree and has over 120 publications. The fellows are expected to develop at least one research project and to submit it as an abstract for presentation at a national-level conference and complete a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

There also are ample opportunities to accomplish this during the one-year fellowship with several active research projects and up-to-date databases that are specific to our program.

A budget is available for travel to a national conference for trauma or critical care.

  • Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

    Baylor University Medical Center, Graduate Medical Education (GME) is committed to advancing and passionately promoting a training environment where all feel welcomed and valued.
    A culture of inclusion encourages innovation, and is a catalyst for building dynamic teams that serve our communities.

    Learn more

How to Apply

We use the Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship Application Service (SAFAS) to electronically accept fellowship applications, letters of recommendations, dean’s letters, transcripts and other credentials directly from your medical school.

Apply now

Application Requirements

Eligible candidates should also submit:

  • Dean's letter
  • Medical school transcript
  • Personal statement
  • Three letters of recommendation from attending physicians

Prior to appointment in the program, fellows must have completed at least three clinical years in an ACGME-accredited graduate medical education program in one of the following specialties:

  • Anesthesiology
  • Emergency medicine
  • Neurological surgery
  • Obstetrics and gynecology
  • Orthopedic surgery
  • Otolaryngology surgery
  • Thoracic surgery
  • Vascular surgery
  • Urology

Fellows who have completed an emergency medicine residency must also complete one preparatory year as an advanced preliminary resident in surgery at Baylor Dallas. The content of this year should be defined jointly by the program directors of the surgery program and the surgical critical care program. It must include clinical experience in the foundations of surgery and the management of complex surgical conditions.

At a minimum, this preparatory year of education must include supervised clinical experience in:

  • Pre-operative evaluation, including respiratory, cardiovascular and nutritional evaluation
  • Pre-operative and post-operative care of surgical patients, including outpatient follow-up care
  • Advanced care of injured patients
  • Care of patients requiring abdominal, breast, head and neck, endocrine, transplant, cardiac, thoracic, vascular and neurosurgical operations
  • Management of complex wounds
  • Minor operative procedures related to critical care, such as venous access, tube thoracostomy and tracheostomy

Interviews and Selection

Submitted applications are thoroughly reviewed and acknowledged. The program director may also contact the applicant by phone initially. Invitation to interview in person is based on program needs and the individual’s qualifications and references. In addition to the requisite eligibility criteria, selection for the program is based on favorable interviews with existing faculty and fellows, favorable completion of his/her current program, as well as the applicant’s expressed interest in the surgical critical care program.

Candidates meet with the program director, associate program director, division director, faculty, fellows and unit staff. The rank order list submitted to the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) is based on faculty consensus of the standardized evaluation results. Housestaff physicians are selected from among eligible applicants on a compilation of the following: preparedness, ability, aptitude, academic credentials, communication skills and personal qualities such as motivation and integrity.

Learn more about Baylor Scott & White's housestaff appointment eligibility, including guidelines for international medical graduates.

Contact Us

Wendy Shelley
GME Program Administrator-Medical Education 
Department of Surgical Critical Care 
Wendy.Shelley@bswhealth.org 

Verification Requests: BUMCGMEVerifications@BSWHealth.org

Department of Surgery
3535 Worth St.
T. Boone Pickens C2.200
Dallas, TX 75246

 

Working at Baylor Scott & White Health

Compensation and Benefits

In addition to competitive stipends, we offer our fellows a full menu of employee benefits. We help offset the cost of many of these benefits; others are options you can choose to pay for yourself.

Learn more

Life in Dallas

Dallas provides access to metropolitan entertainment and culture while maintaining the lowest cost of living among the top 10 largest U.S. cities.

Learn more

Why Baylor Scott & White

As the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas and one of the largest in the United States, Baylor Scott & White Health includes 48 hospitals, more than 900 patient care sites, more than 6,000 active physicians and more than 40,000 employees.

Learn more

Check out all of our programs in North and Central Texas

View all GME