Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship

Jefferson pulmonary and critical care fellows will gain exposure to a wide breadth of complex and specialized care in both pulmonary and critical care medicine. The majority of the inpatient training experience will be set at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, conveniently located in Center City Philadelphia. The Hospital serves as a major quaternary care referral center for the Delaware Valley and, as a Level I Trauma Center, has more than 45,000 admissions annually. The remainder of inpatient clinical service time will be spent at Methodist Hospital, an affiliated hospital in South Philadelphia with a community hospital experience with access to the specialized medical care of Jefferson Health. Fellows will have the opportunity to personalize their training by entering a unique Academic Track and selecting a Clinical Focus.

Fellows will obtain competency in all procedural skills required of a modern-day pulmonologist and intensivist including: airway management, bronchoscopy, endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial needle aspiration, arterial and venous cannulation, chest tube insertion, paracentesis, percutaneous tracheostomy, point-of-care ultrasound, right heart catheterization, and thoracentesis. Fellows will also gain exposure to more advanced interventional pulmonology techniques such as: airway stent placement/retrieval, bronchial thermoplasty, endobronchial valve placement, and robotic bronchoscopy.

The outpatient clinical experience will be set in the penthouse of the brand-new Honickman Center, a 17-story state-of-the-art outpatient facility the recently opened in April, 2024. Fellows manage their own panel of patients with a wide range of pulmonary ailments. Fellows will also spend time in a number of subspecialty ambulatory clinics such as: Asthma, ALS, Cystic Fibrosis, Interstitial Lung Disease, Nodule, Post-Pulmonary Embolism, Post-ICU Survivors (PICS), Pulmonary Hypertension, Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Sarcoidosis, Sleep, and Thoracentesis clinics.

Clinical Services

• Inpatient Primary Pulmonary Service
• Inpatient Pulmonary Consultation Service
• Medical ICU
• Critical Care Consultation Service
• Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT)
• Interventional Pulmonary Procedural Service
• Surgical ICU (SICU)
• Neurologic ICU (NICU)
•  Cardiothoracic Surgery ICU
• Thoracic Surgery Service
• Thoracic Radiology
• Outpatient Pulmonary Medicine

Multi-Disciplinary Teams

In addition, fellows will have the opportunity to train in multidisciplinary teams treating highly complex and subspecialized pulmonary conditions. These include the following:

Interstitial Lung Disease/ Sarcoidosis

• Joint clinic with Rheumatology and ILD-trained Pulmonary physicians
• Bi-weekly multidisciplinary discussion including Pulmonary, Thoracic radiology, Rheumatology and Pathology
• Palliative Care integration into the ILD team

Lung Nodule/Lung Cancer Clinic

• Weekly lung nodule conference including Pulmonary, Thoracic Radiology and Thoracic Surgery

Severe Asthma/ Severe COPD Clinic

• Exposure to advanced asthma and COPD care with a team that includes Pulmonary, ENT and Allergy

Bronchiectasis/ Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Clinic

• Weekly joint clinic with Pulmonary, Infectious Disease and Respiratory Therapy

Cystic Fibrosis Clinic

• Weekly joint clinic with Pulmonary Medicine, Nutrition and Respiratory Therapy

Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program

• Weekly clinics and multidisciplinary program with pulmonologists with expertise in pulmonary hypertension and advanced heart failure cardiology

Chronic Cough Clinic

• Multidisciplinary program with Pulmonary, ENT and GI

Chronic respiratory failure program/Neuromuscular respiratory diseases

• Multidisciplinary clinic with Pulmonary Medicine, Neurology and Respiratory Therapy

Lung Transplantation- multidisciplinary program with medical and surgical lung transplant experts

Onco-pulmonary Program

• Multidisciplinary program with Pulmonary Medicine, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant providing care to patients with oncologic disease and lung complications

Post-ICU Syndrome Clinic

• Multidisciplinary clinic for ICU survivors with Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Nutrition, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Pharmacy and Respiratory Therapy

Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT)

• Team includes Pulmonary, Interventional Radiology, Vascular Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery

Educational Opportunities

The fellows will attend educational conferences that are scheduled weekly to enhance their clinical knowledge and ensure adequate preparation for both Pulmonary and Critical Care board examinations. The educational opportunities include the following:

• Monday Conference
  • Introductory Fellow-Focused Didactics
  • Journal Club
  • Board Review
  • Pulmonary Ambulatory Curriculum
  • Radiology Cases
• Tuesday Conference – Division Chest Conference
  • Fellow-delivered Chest Conference on specific topic and clinical question
  • Morbidity and Mortality (M&M)
  • Faculty Didactics
  • Research in Progress (RIP)
  • Challenging case discussions
• Wednesday Conference – Multidisciplinary Critical Care Conference
  • Didactics from all ICU subspecialties
  • Critical Care Journal Club
• Thursday – Internal Medicine Department Grand Rounds
• Friday – Multidisciplinary ILD Conference
  • Physiology Curriculum
  • Pulmonary physiology didactics
  • Pulmonary function testing didactics
  • Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) didactics