Trainee experience

The Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant Critical Care Fellowship prepares individuals for professional practice in critical care unit settings. During this program, learning experiences allow you to:

• Develop and enhance critical care knowledge
• Develop and enhance critical-thinking skills
• Improve time management (multitasking and triaging as appropriate)
• Develop and enhance critical care procedures and skills
• Gain expertise in working on quality improvement projects
• Develop research and presentation skills

Clinical training and rotations

The fellowship curriculum includes 13 four-week rotations throughout multiple service lines with the majority being intensive care units. Rotations include the following intensive care service lines at Mayo Clinic:

• Surgical ICU
• Medical ICU
• Neuroscience ICU
• Abdominal transplant ICU
• Heart and lung transplant ICU

Additional service lines include, but are not limited to, off-service rotations with infectious disease, surgery rotations, internal medicine, and palliative care.

Didactic coursework

The program includes didactic lectures and simulation lab training.

Didactic lectures include participation in:

• A core lecture series
• Journal clubs
• Weekly critical care conference
• Morbidity and mortality reviews

Simulation training includes, but is not limited to:

• Endotracheal intubation
• Bedside ultrasonography
• Central line placement
• Arterial line placement
• Paracentesis
• Thoracentesis
• Lumbar puncture
• Bronchoscopy

You are expected to participate in quality improvement and research projects working with staff NPs, PAs, and attending physicians.

Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences is committed to developing and maintaining the best education programs. The curriculum and other aspects of this program are routinely assessed and changed as necessary to ensure the highest quality training.

Schedule and hours

As a fellow, you have varying shift lengths, which include both day and night shifts as well as weekend coverage. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-hour restrictions are followed. An average of 40 to 60 hours a week is spent in the hospital setting.

Department and faculty

The Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant Critical Care Fellowship is coordinated and taught by the clinical, scientific, and technical staff of Mayo Clinic. Faculty members are chosen for their commitment to teaching, as well as their clinical practice and research. Many have published and lectured extensively and are highly regarded in their fields.

You have direct access to these individuals throughout the training program.

Visiting professors and lecturers

A hallmark of higher education excellence is the breadth and depth of information and experience provided to students by faculty and visiting experts. Many prominent professors visit Mayo Clinic each year to lecture in their areas of medical and scientific expertise.

As a student at Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, you are encouraged to learn from these valuable resources by attending all relevant conferences, lectures, and seminars prepared for students, interns, residents, fellows, and consulting staff.

Facilities

Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, is a comprehensive medical facility providing advanced programs in education and research that support the highest-quality patient care. Campus activity is conducted in Mayo Clinic Hospital and is interconnected with the Davis, Mayo, and Cannaday buildings.

Mayo Clinic Hospital is a tertiary care hospital providing comprehensive services to the critically ill patients in the surgical and medical intensive care units, specialized solid-organ transplant unit, advanced cardiac care unit, and neurocritical care unit.

The ambulatory clinic facilities provide clinical services ranging from primary care to specialty care across the continuum. Additionally, hospital and clinic-based procedural units offer innovative services to patients across the spectrum of wellness.

Simulation training occurs in the state-of-the-art J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Simulation Center. The center boasts 9,600 square feet of training space using exact replications of the clinical areas. This allows for real-life training using high-fidelity training devices and standardized patients to augment the realism. Procedural expertise will be achieved using models and simulations to prepare the learner safely for practice in the clinical environment.

Evaluation

Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences uses these evaluative tools:

• Written examination
• Demonstration of skills
• Self-assessment exercises
• Faculty reviews

Mayo Clinic's system of evaluation provides students and faculty with a comprehensive look at individual performance. This allows faculty and administrative staff to direct students who are experiencing academic difficulty to the appropriate support resources, including tutoring programs and counseling opportunities.