The Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Program at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, in affiliation with Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), offers a multifaceted fellowship training program in pediatric critical care medicine.
Accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the program is based at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Delaware’s only pediatric trauma center. Both the training program and our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) itself are staffed by board-certified and fellowship-trained intensivists with varying backgrounds and extensive experience in both the clinical and research realms.
This fellowship program is an exciting opportunity for pediatric residents interested in a career in critical care. We expect that our graduates will go forward to have successful academic careers in tertiary care settings.
Our Fellowship Program
The Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Program at duPont Hospital for Children gives residents opportunities to develop their knowledge base and skills to provide the highest level of critical care to children in an academic environment that is rigorous, friendly, and supportive.
You’ll receive an introduction to laboratory and clinical research and the principles of administration, as well as training to be an excellent educator.
The 3-year program provides both clinical and laboratory research, with strong mentorship from experienced researchers. Internal funding for research from duPont Hospital for Children is also available. The critical care team provides medical coverage for pediatric trauma patients as duPont Hospital for Children is Delaware’s only pediatric Level 1 trauma center.
Nemours has a dedicated and very active Pediatric Critical Care Transport Program, Nemours Kids Transport, which serves our large referral base. Our pediatric intensivists serve as medical command for all pediatric transports. Throughout transport, our advanced electronic health record (EHR) links our clinical team to the patient’s entire record.
Clinical Curriculum Highlights
The clinical component of the curriculum emphasizes the pathophysiology of acute, life-threatening disease and injury, and the general principles and physiology of advanced life support — including training in, and use of, advanced technologies. This part of the program places equal emphasis on clinical and academic skills.
You’ll be required to demonstrate excellence in all aspects of clinical care, including working in and leading teams, as well as teaching. Upon successful completion, you’ll be able to pursue subspecialty certification in pediatric critical care medicine.
Research Opportunities
In addition to academic and clinical training, our fellowship program provides a structured, supervised research experience that includes 3 months of protected research time in the first year, 7 months in the second year, and 8 months in the third year.
Curriculum
The first year includes a series of didactic lectures on experimental design and data collection and analysis. You’ll have opportunities to learn laboratory techniques by observing and participating in current research projects. You’ll also attend a mandatory statistics course that includes lectures on experimental design.
To enhance your research experience, you’ll work with a mentor chosen from our critical care faculty. Thomas Shaffer, MSE, PhD, Director of the Center for Pediatric Lung Research, also shares his knowledge and experience with our trainees and sometimes serves as a mentor.
Your mentor will follow your progress and supervise the research process from hypothesis through experimental design, use of laboratory methods, data collection, analysis, presentation, and finally to abstract/poster presentation and manuscript preparation.
You’ll meet with your research mentor for at least 1 hour per week during research months and with the program director every 6 months. You’ll also report on your progress at monthly departmental research meetings.
World-Class Facilities
The Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children Life Science Center has current approval from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC) and houses the research facilities for the duPont Hospital for Children. The center has the necessary facilities to house both large and small animals.
Our department has a research laboratory within the Life Science Center. The center is fully equipped with all necessary equipment, including invasive catheters, mechanical ventilators and respiratory monitoring equipment, intubation and tracheostomy equipment, and hemodynamic monitoring equipment. Many hospital and research departments have laboratory space within this building, and collaboration and borrowing of necessary equipment is easy and common.
In addition to this laboratory, the 2,500-square-foot laboratory of Dr. Thomas Shaffer will be available. Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funding sources, his lab is outfitted with Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) equipment, hemodynamic flow transducers, critical care monitors, data recording instruments, computers, image analysis equipment, and cell and muscle bath setups. The lab also offers the capability of running in vivo studies with rats, rabbits, newborn lambs, weanling lambs, and adult sheep. The animal research coordinator is Anne Heseck.
The Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children is adding a five-story expansion to enhance our quality of care for our patients and families.
About Our Hospital in Delaware
The duPont Hospital for Children is a multi-specialty, tertiary care teaching institution located on a 300-acre estate in the scenic Brandywine Valley in Wilmington, DE.
As a program participant, you’ll have access to advanced computer systems for patient care activities, electronic mail, word processing, internet access, and library research functions. Among the hospital’s amenities for all staff are:
- free parking
- park-like setting
- gym/fitness center
- on-site child care center for children of staff
- massage therapy
What's Coming in 2014
We’re building a healthier future for kids by expanding our hospital. Opening in 2014, our enhanced hospital will be like no other in the region — designed by and for families.
Contact Us
Jennifer DuBoisProgram Coordinator |
Nicholas B. Slamon, MDProgram Director |
Apply for This Fellowship
Application Requirements
Deadline November 7, 2013
- Nemours fellowship application form
- Curriculum vitae
- Personal statement
- Medical school transcript
- USMLE scores (all 3 levels)
- 3 references
