Clinical Experience

Our critical care program is uniquely designed to provide the best training for our fellows. The fellows not only work closely with each of our excellent faculty intensivists, but also work directly with the UCSD faculty specialists who consult in the pediatric intensive care unit. UCSD has a rich tradition of recruiting top faculty members in all our divisions who are dedicated to teaching.  Additionally, the faculty are also world renowned scientists and clinicians so you will be exposed to cutting edge medicine and top notch research in all the subspecialty fields.

Our setting at Rady Children’s Hospital also provides unique exposure to a varied clinical experience.  RCHSD is a 305-bed hospital serving 1 million children from 3 counties and Northern Mexico (San Diego is just 20 miles north of the Mexican Border). This diverse population provides fellows with the opportunity to manage children with a large variety of pediatric critical care issues, including diseases only found in the developing world.

PICU Highlights

  • Closed unit (the critical care team is the primary service on all PICU patients)
  • Our Team
    • 8 Attending Intensivists
    • 9 Pediatric Critical Care Fellows
    • 4 PICU Nurse Practitioners
    • 2-3 Pediatric Residents (PL-2 or PL-3) per month
  • 5th largest free standing pediatric hospital in the nation
  • Only major pediatric regional referral center for two counties
  • Only designated regional Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center in the county (950 traumas per year
  • 96 000 ED visits per year
  • 20 500 RCHSD admissions per year
  • 2000 PICU admissions per year
  • PICU – 24-30 beds
  • 1000 pediatric transports per year (by ambulance, fixed-wing & helicopter) – 30% of transports admitted to ICU
  • 20 607 surgeries per year
  • Dedicated Cardiac Thoracic ICU (CTICU)
    • 30 beds
    • 1000 cardiovascular cases per year (open heart, cath, EP)
    • 250-270 bypass cases per year
    • Active ECMO, VAD, Berlin heart program
  • Active renal replacement therapy (CRRT) program
  • Cardiac and kidney transplant exposure
  • Heme-Onc bone marrow transplant center
  • Palliative care team
  • Rehabilitation unit and service