Critical Care Medicine

Critical Care Medicine physicians provide care for patients in the adult intensive care units at UCSF's Hellen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights as well as our Mount Zion and Mission Bay hospitals. They lead the multidisciplinary care team in all of our ICUs including the MICU, CTICU, SICU, mixed medical-surgical, and Neuro ICUs. They also provide service to our patients outside of the physical ICUs as part of Code Blue and Rapid Response teams taking their expertise wherever patients need it most.

We care for the full breadth of critically-ill patients in our practice providing expertise in the management of patients with complex medical, oncologic, and surgical illnesses who seek care at UCSF. UCSF is unique in our ability to provide innovative, life-saving therapies including organ transplantation, advanced forms of life support including ECMO, and highly-coordinated multidisciplinary care for patients with intersecting medical issues such as adult congenital heart disease and pregnancy.

Our environment

Our interprofessional and diverse staff mirrors the many cultures of our patient population, fostering a supportive and collaborative team environment that is crucial to delivering excellent care to our patients and their families.

Resident Rotation

• Every month residents from the Departments of Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Surgery rotate through the ICU.
• The call schedule is varied, but residents average every 3rd-4th night call.
• Teaching is provided during morning lectures, daily attending rounds, and throughout the day by the fellows.
• Objectives are to understand indication and techniques of invasive central monitoring, airway management, patient sedation, and care of patients with multiorgan failure.

Medical Students

• Every month up to two students from UCSF School of Medicine join the ICU team. Students are responsible for following their own patients and receive guidance from the residents, fellows, and attendings.
• Students do not take overnight call, but are encouraged to stay late one day per week in order to learn from the entire ICU experience.
• Students are expected to be present for the entire month, but are off on the weekends and should check with the attending of the week if time off is needed for interviews.
• Prior rotations on medicine and surgery are required due to the complexity of the patients in the ICU.