Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Facilities

University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH)

The UNMH serves as the major referral for tertiary and quaternary care in New Mexico as well as parts of the surrounding states, serving a population of 1.2 million people. A Surgical Critical Care fellow will manage patients that span the depth and breadth of surgical critical care issues in a high-volume practice. 

Highlights at UNMH

• SCC Fellows will spend six months on the Trauma Surgical ICU service, four months on the Cardiovascular ICU service and 1 months on the Neurosciences ICU service. There is also an elective month during which the fellow can spend in the Medical or Pediatric ICU.
• UNM HSC is one of only 29 institutions nationally that has both an NIH (NCI) designated cancer center (Comprehensive Cancer Center) and a CTSC.
• UNMH has 629 beds for adult, pediatric and psychiatric care. 

Trauma Surgical ICU (TSICU)

• 24-bed semi-open unit with 1400-1800 admissions per year.
• There are six beds designated for the Burn service and six beds for the CTVICU (see below).
• The primary patient population cared for by the TSICU service is trauma, emergency general surgery, surgical oncology, burn, obstetrics and a small percentage of surgical subspecialty patients.
• Board certified physicians from the Department of Surgery and Department of Emergency Medicine staff the TSICU.
• The TSICU team is made up of a PGY II general surgery resident, 2-3 PGY 1 residents from general surgery, surgical subspecialties and emergency medicine, as well as physician assistants specializing in critical care. The SCC fellow will lead this team. 

The Cardiothoracic-vascular ICU (CTVICU)

• The CTVICU is a six-bed unit contained within the TSICU.
• There are between 350-380 admissions per year with over 100 open-heart patients.
• All vascular surgery patients needing critical care are admitted to the CTVICU.
• The growing UNMH Adult ECMO program will be run by the CTVICU service as well.
• The CTVICU is staffed by faculty from Cardiothoracic Surgery, the Department of Surgery and Emergency Medicine.
• There are no residents or cardiology or cardiac surgery fellows on the CTVICU service. The SCC fellow will manage the patients with the faculty. 

The Neuroscience intensive care unit (NSICU)

• The NSICU is a 24-bed, state-of-the-art unit, dedicated to treating critically ill patients with primary neurologic and neurosurgical disorders.
• The NICU is the primary referral center for traumatic brain injury, severe ischemic stroke with cerebral edema, spinal cord injury, and other neurologic emergencies.
• The NSICU regularly utilizes advanced intracranial monitoring including continuous quantitative EEG, portable head CT, and optic nerve sheath ultrasound.
• The NSICU is staffed daily by one board certified Critical Care attending, one PGY 1 or PGY 2 Neurosurgical resident, one Emergency Medicine resident, 1-2 Advanced Practice Providers, and intermittently with residents from anesthesia and internal medicine. The SCC fellow will lead this team. 

Meet Our Faculty