Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Columbia - Program Details

Immersive intensive care rotations

The primary clinical site for our fellowship program is Prisma Health Richland Hospital, a 650-bed tertiary referral medical center in Columbia, South Carolina. Richland Hospital is the teaching hospital of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and has a large referral base, serving the greater Midlands of South Carolina and beyond.

The medical intensive care unit (MICU) and critical care unit (CCU) teams provide all medical critical care at Richland. Our new, 18-bed MICU opened in 2020 and is the primary critical care teaching service for our internal medicine, emergency medicine and family medicine residencies. Our CCU service provides critical care support for patients in the CCU and cardiovascular ICU, in collaboration with the cardiology and cardiothoracic services teams. Complimenting these core medical ICU rotations, fellows rotate in the neuroscience, cardiovascular and surgical trauma ICUs.   

Fellows receive procedural training in all core critical care procedures to include percutaneous tracheostomies. Fellows complete a two-week airway management rotation and are responsible for all intubations in the MICU and CCU. Simulation training takes place in the School of Medicine’s Simulation Center and includes procedural skills like difficult airway management, as well as patient management scenarios. A bronchoscopy simulator is available 24/7. Fellows participate in a formal point of care ultrasound curriculum and are encouraged to pursue the newly available certification in critical care echocardiography.

As part of their broad-based training, critical care fellows receive multidisciplinary training in advanced ventilator modes as well as venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO). The cardiology heart failure service offers advanced cardiac support to include venoarterial (VA) ECMO and destination left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). Prisma Health Richland Hospital also boasts a nationally accredited hyperbaric medicine training program that fellows can participate in.

Combining these resources with the expertise and availability of our faculty and the wide range of pathology seen creates an ideal learning environment for our fellows. We are confident our graduates will be well prepared to excel in the ever-evolving field of critical care medicine.