Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Fellowship

 OUR MISSION

The mission of UNMC’s Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Fellowship is to develop and nurture future leaders in academic congenital cardiac anesthesiology, to serve our region and beyond. Housed within Omaha’s Children’s Hospital and Medical Center (CHMC), we offer an unparalleled training experience for a program of our size. As our parent core pediatric fellowship is small, our cardiac fellow has unrestricted access to the entire clinical volume of our Heart Center. We feel confident that the depth and breadth of clinical opportunity here rivals that of much larger centers. We are proud of our close-knit team of talented surgeons, cardiologists, perfusionists, nurses and anesthesiologists, all of whom foster a collaborative and supportive environment in which to learn the art and science of this demanding specialty.

OUR PROGRAM

Unique Features
The Criss Family Heart Center and CHMC benefit from the unique position of being a free-standing tertiary care facility, integrated with ready access to the full academic infrastructure of a major biomedical research university. The Hubbard Center for Children, opened in 2021, is a brand-new 460,000 square foot state-of-the-art acute care facility that boasts a 32-bed adaptable acuity Cardiac Care Unit, as well as a spacious new cardiac operating room, and new imaging center.

A major strength of our program is size; with limited case competition from other trainees we can afford our cardiac fellow exposure to essentially all cardiac surgical and interventional procedures at our center. We are confident that our trainees will graduate with case volumes in excess of proposed ACGME targets.

Our faculty are committed to a graduated responsibility philosophy, wherein the fellow will be thoughtfully and sequentially mentored towards independent practice. Pedagogically, we have aligned our didactic curriculum with adult learning theory, and use a series of socratic, problem-based modules to cover the field of congenital cardiac anesthesia in an informal, collegial manner with faculty, fellows, and CRNAs.

Duration
We currently offer a hybrid one-year program, with four months spent as an attending in general pediatric anesthesiology, followed by 8 months formal training experience in cardiac anesthesia. The curriculum and focus is largely adaptable to the fellow’s goals and interests. ACGME accreditation for this specialty received inaugural approval in 2021, and we are actively pursuing accreditation for a full 12-month program.

TEACHING FACULTY

Program Leadership

Tim Welch, MD Fellowship Program Director Interim Director Cardiac Anesthesia	Kerri George, MD Director of Cardiac Anesthesia

Cardiac Anesthesia Faculty

• Amy Beethe, MD | Director of Clinical Operations
• Andrea Dutoit, MD | Anesthesia Residency Program Director
• Ryan Hamlin, MD
• Ahsan Qadeer, MD
• Mohanad Shukry, MD | Executive Vice Chair, Department of Anesthesiology

YOUR EDUCATION

Rotations

Core rotations (32 weeks)

• Cardiac Operating Room/Catheterization Lab: 26 weeks
• Cardiac Intensive Care Medicine: 2 weeks
• Perioperative Echocardiography: 2 weeks
• Perfusion: 1 week
• Electrophysiology: 1 week

Elective rotations (2 weeks)
The fellow can choose an additional 2 weeks with the above services, or choose from other rotations to include:

• Adult Congenital Heart Disease
• Research/Quality Improvement
• Interventional Cardiology with the cardiologists
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Didactics

• Self-directed reading:
  We provide a copy of Anesthesia for Congenital Heart Disease, 3^rd Edition to trainees, with a guided calendar to work through this fundamental text in alignment with our didactic conference sequence

• Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS): We provide a membership in CCAS for our fellow, affording them access to high-quality online lectures on congenital cardiac anesthesia as well as a subscription to a monthly webinar targeted at all cardiac fellows in the country.

• Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Conference (bi-weekly): Problem-based discussion seminar covering the full curriculum. We begin with foundational sessions on cardiac embryology, coagulation and hemostasis, cardiopulmonary bypass, neuroprotection, hemodynamics, and arrhythmias, and progress to focused sessions on specific categories of lesions, as well as intensive care, mechanical support and other ancillary topics.

• Cardiac Care Conference (weekly): This multidisciplinary conference is a forum in which upcoming surgical and interventional patients are discussed in detail for procedural planning. It is attended by cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, intensivists, and anesthesiologists, and is a dynamic and high-yielding opportunity for the fellow to learn the nuances of surgical decision making.

• Cardiac Section Meeting (monthly): This is a standing meeting of the cardiac operating room team, where surgeons, nurses, perfusionists, and anesthesiologists discuss operational issues and quality improvement initiatives.

• Cardiac Journal Club (quarterly): This is a wide-scope, multi-specialty forum for the entire cardiac operating room team. We review current literature on controversial topics, often leading to process changes within our practice.

Clinical Experience:

The data below reflects our center's annual case volume for the target categories as outlined in the ACGME program requirements.

The fellow will be fully integrated into the academic mission of our division. Our group participates in the Anesthesia component of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database (STS-CHSD), and as such has access to a large national dataset for quality improvement research. Beyond the cardiac service line is the Child Health Research Institute (CHRI), an innovative partnership between CHMC and UNMC. CHRI serves as a unique multidisciplinary pediatric research enterprise that provides study coordination, grant-writing assistance, biostatistical support and other infrastructure, as well as start-up funding for projects.

HOW TO APPLY

Qualifications:
All applicants must have completed an ACGME-accredited Anesthesiology residency, AND a primary fellowship in either Pediatric Anesthesiology OR Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology.

The application process:
We are currently accepting applications on a rolling basis for the 2023-2024 academic year. If interested, please submit an application, cover letter/personal statement, CV, and 3 letters of recommendation from cardiac anesthesiologists to Tim Welch, MD. If selected for a formal interview, we will invite you for an initial virtual interview.

Lori Martello
Fellowship Coordinator
lmartello@unmc.edu
P: 402-559-7353
984455 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-6890