The Division of Acute Care Surgery at the University of New Mexico has had an ACGME accredited Surgical Critical Care Fellowship since 2017. We have 3 total positions in the first year and offer three tracks in Surgical Critical Care designed to provide excellent training in the management of critically ill surgical patients and all phases of Trauma care.

About UNM:

The University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) in Albuquerque is the State’s only ACS verified Level 1 Trauma Center and only academic medical center, and is the primary teaching hospital for the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. UNMH has 629 beds and has approximately 25,000 admissions, performs 19,000 surgeries annually, and had 80,000 ER. UNMH cares for a large, diverse patient population with complex and urgent surgical needs over a large geographic catchment area. The Trauma Program has over 2,900 trauma admissions per year, approximately 25% with an ISS greater than 15 and a 20% penetrating trauma rate with a high volume of operative cases. UNMH also has an active adult ECMO program that consists of Intensivists from all subspecialty backgrounds. Adult ECMO is run entirely by the Intensivist service which performs VA, VV and eCPR cannulations and provides ongoing management of the patient and circuit. UNMH is recognized as an ELSO Gold Center of Excellence and is the first hospital in the United States to offer pre-hospital eCPR.

The SCC fellowship is overseen by 6 Acute Care Surgery faculty. The fellows will also benefit from training with intensivists from other specialties including Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia and Medical Critical Care.

Fellowship Tracks offered:

Surgical Critical Care Fellowship: 2 positions. One-year experience focusing on the management of critically ill Surgical and Trauma patients. Rotations include Trauma Surgical Burn ICU, Cardiothoracic/Vascular/ECMO ICU, Neuro ICU, and 2 months on the Trauma Surgery Service. Electives in Palliative Care, MICU, advanced US, Nephrology, and other relevant areas are offered.

Surgical Critical Care Fellowship-Emergency Medicine Track- 1 position. A 2-year experience for graduates of an Emergency Medicine Residency who are eligible for ABEM certification. The first year of the track is an immersive and meaningful experience in surgical care, participating in all phases of the patient’s care, including in the operating room. Core rotations in Trauma, Emergency General Surgery, Night Float, Surgical Oncology, and Vascular surgery will provide an excellent experience managing surgical patients. The second year of the fellowship is similar to the traditional SCC track with an addition of one MICU month and more time in the Cardiothoracic/Vascular/ECMO ICU.

Acute Care Surgery Fellowship (ACS Fellowship). 2 positions. The AAST ACS fellowship is a 2 year fellowship designed to give fellows training in all facets of Acute Care Surgery. The first year is the traditional SCC fellowship with time spent on the Trauma service and taking overnight call. The second year fellow rotates on the Night Float, Trauma and Emergency General Surgery services, gaining complex operative and decision-making experience. At approximately the 3-4 month point, the fellow graduates to the “Fellow in Exception” (FIE) role. They will be appointed as a visiting faculty in the Division of Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, and be credentialed as a member of the medical staff.

As an FIE, the ACS fellow will spend the remainder of their fellowship rotating as the attending on the Trauma and EGS services, with approximately one week of service on Trauma and one week of service on EGS per month. In this role, they will round on the inpatients, see consults and trauma activations in the hospital, operate, take call, and staff clinic in an identical manner to the ACS faculty.