About Us
The Department of Emergency Medicine formed a new Section of Critical Care in June 2021. The focus of this Section is the care of critically ill patients, spanning the prehospital, ED, and ICU settings.
The section will advance this mission through clinical care, research, education, administrative leadership, and quality improvement and assurance. The emergency physicians and intensivists who will make up the Section of Critical Care are uniquely positioned to understand the full spectrum of critical illness and have local, regional, and national leadership roles and collaborations.
The DEM Section of Critical Care will bring together a wide range of critical care clinical expertise including medical, surgical, cardiothoracic, and neurocritical care, with academic emphases on cardiac arrest, acute respiratory distress syndrome, clinical trials, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, neurologic emergencies, and critical care echocardiography.
Our Vision
- Provide expert clinical care in the emergency departments and intensive care units throughout UW Medicine.
- Better ensure smooth and safe transitions of patients between the emergency departments and intensive care units within UW Medicine by building relationships and elevating clinical standards.
- Educate a broad range of learners from emergency medicine, critical care, neurology, internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, and other fields.
- Conduct collaborative, impactful research focused on the care of critically ill patients in the emergency department and beyond.
- Lead and advise key programs within UW Medicine, regionally and nationally, including cardiac arrest care, inpatient clinical emergencies, extracorporeal life support, and neurologic emergencies.
Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Training
The University of Washington trains emergency medicine physicians in critical care medicine via three different training pathways. All three fellowship pathways provide outstanding, broad training in all aspects of critical care medicine, with training in medical, surgical, trauma, neurological, cardiothoracic ICUs throughout the UW Medicine system.
Critical Care & Emergency Medicine
What is EM Critical Care?
Critical Care is an ACGME-accredited subspecialty of emergency medicine. EM-Critical Care (EMCC) specialists typically complete two years of fellowship training in critical care after emergency medicine residency via one of the following four training pathways:
- Internal medicine-critical care medicine
- Anesthesia-critical care medicine
- Neurocritical care, or
- Surgical critical care
Fellowship is followed by board-certification in both EM and critical care. EMCC specialists are qualified to work in both emergency departments and intensive care units, and a majority have a split practice. EMCC specialists have unique skills in resuscitation, ventilator management, complex procedures, ultrasound, hemodynamic monitoring, and team leadership, among others. They build bridges between emergency departments and intensive care units and help promote collaboration and mutual understanding.
Key Local Activities
Key National Activities
