Four- or eight-week sessions offered monthly September through May inclusive

Prerequisite: Completion of third-year medical school clerkships

Elective Description

The Critical Care Medicine Department’s training program invites medical students in their fourth year, to a 4- or 8-week clinical rotation in the intensive care unit at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center (CC). The CC is the site of intramural clinical research for the NIH. People from all over the world participate in approximately 1,000 research protocols conducted by the various Institutes and Centers. Each year, more than 6,000 patients are admitted to the CC. The CCMD provides medical, cardiac, and surgical ICU services for critically ill adult and pediatric patients enrolled in intramural NIH research protocols. The ICU is staffed by senior physicians and medical fellows with expertise in critical care medicine, pulmonary diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and anesthesiology. The ICU (capacity: 12 beds) will evaluate any patient from any service within the CC at the request of the patient’s primary physician. The ICU is equipped with state-of-the-art cardiovascular and respiratory support services well suited to the care of patients with multisystem organ failure. The student is expected to be an integral part of the ICU team. Work rounds begin at 6:30 a.m., academic rounds begin at 8:00 a.m. and are followed by imaging and microbiology rounds. There are also daily afternoon sign-out (work) rounds. There is a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (12:00–1:00 p.m.) lecture series. This lecture series reviews pertinent clinical and research topics in critical care medicine. The student would be expected to attend morning rounds (Monday–Friday); be present at afternoon lectures; participate in evaluating and treating patients transferred to the ICU under the supervision of the staff physician or ICU fellow; and avail themselves of the outstanding electronic/library resources available at NIH to review existing literature pertinent to the clinical problems discussed on morning rounds. The student will also have the opportunity under the supervision of the staff physician to become skilled in the placement of a variety of intravascular catheters. There is no required evening or weekend duty.

Course Objectives

• Gain clinical experience in providing thoughtful and expedient care for critically ill patients.
• Exposure to procedural and intellectual skills required of a critical care physician.
• Develop skills necessary to effectively communicate medical information to patients and their families, ancillary medical staff, and fellow physicians.

Application Procedure

Applications will be considered when the following items have been received:

• Demographic and academic information
• A cover letter describing career goals, research interests, and reasons for applying for training at the NIH (maximum of 15,000 characters)
• Curriculum vitae (include education, relevant research experience, scientific publications, honors, and awards)
• Medical school transcript
• A letter of approval from the office of the Dean of Student Affairs
• A letter of recommendation from a member of the medical school.

Applications are available online at http://www.cc.nih.gov/training/students/electives/programs/critical_care.html
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Further information can be obtained by contacting the Clinical Elective Program at 301-496-2427.