The Critical Care Medicine fellowship training program has achieved full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), further enhancing the Department of Medicine’s (DOM) reputation as a center of excellence in critical care.
“Accreditation in Critical Care Medicine is a testament to our unwavering commitment to training the next generation of critical care physicians and to delivering the highest standard of care to our critically ill patients,” said Loretta Que, MD, division chief of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Medicine, where the program is housed. “We see accreditation as signifying a milestone in our journey towards excellence in critical care medicine. It is also important to recognize the combined effort by Talal Dahhan, MD, the Critical Care fellowship program director and Stephen Bergin, MD, the Pulmonary Critical Care fellowship program director, who worked diligently to ensure the success of the program.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 48% of hospitals surveyed by the American Hospital Association reported shortages in staffing by critical care providers, a number which grew significantly during the pandemic as critical care providers reported burnout and turned to early retirement. So, accreditation further serves to strengthen the department’s ability to attract top talent in the field, including researchers, educators, and clinicians, Que added.
The Critical Care Medicine program uniquely offers physicians who have completed fellowship training in another medicine subspecialty—such as cardiology, emergency medicine, nephrology or infectious diseases—an opportunity to build expertise in critical care. Expertise and subspecialty perspectives for trainees help foster a rich collaborative environment that enhances care across Duke Health.
“A special thanks goes to Traci Womble, program coordinator, Jaclyn Komoski, assistant program coordinator, and Lynsey Easley, senior administrator in medical education, for their hard work in support of the accreditation,” said Lisa Criscione-Schreiber, MD, MEd, vice chair for education.
The ACGME is a private, not-for-profit organization that sets standards for United States graduate medical education programs and the institutions that sponsors them. The mission of the ACGME is to improve health care and population health by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians' education through accreditation.