Inpatient Service months
UConn Health
We are proud to provide training at three clinical sites with distinct characteristics. UConn Health is a small academic medical center serving a mostly suburban population. St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center is a tertiary care center with 615 beds serving a mostly inner city population. Fellows also rotate through Hartford Hospital’s advance heart failure service during their 2nd year.
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
The cardiology fellow spends a total of 4 months during their 1st two years rotating through the UConn Health inpatient service. He/she works with an academic attending, residents, as well as an APRN during their rotation. The cardiology team is the primary provider for patients with acute coronary syndrome, congestive heart failure requiring inotropic support, and unstable arrhythmias. They provide consultative services for patients requiring hospital level care including preoperative evaluation, assessment of patient suspected to have cardiac ischemia, management of basic arrhythmias, and care of congestive heart failure.
Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU)
CICU at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
First year cardiology fellows spend one-month rotation at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center acting as the primary cardiac provider managing cardiac patients and postoperative cardiac surgery patients. He/she works alongside the CICU physician assistants under the supervision of the attending cardiologist, the advanced Heart Failure cardiologist and the CICU Intensivist. The St. Francis Hospital CICU consists of 16 beds for cardiology and cardiac surgery patients. During this rotation, the cardiology fellow is responsible for performing advanced heart failure consults in the ICU. The cardiology fellow inserts, manages and troubleshoots Swan Ganz catheters, temporary transvenous pacemakers and manages intra-aortic balloon pumps.
CICU at Hartford Hospital
The primary responsibility of the cardiology fellow in a CICU rotation at Hartford Hospital is to train and supervise medical students, interns, and residents while overseeing the care of the patients in the CICU. The CICU is a 12-bed open unit. Private attending cardiologists admit the majority of patient. The cardiology faculty member and the cardiology fellow admits the rest of the patients. The CICU fellow cares directly for the fellow’s service patients and indirectly for the private cardiology patients through interactions with house-staff. In addition, the fellow helps to insert and troubleshoot ICY catheters (for targeted temperature management), Swan Ganz catheters and temporary transvenous pacemakers. The fellow participates in management of patients with various mechanical support devices including intra-aortic balloon pumps, Impella devices, and ECMO. Lastly, the cardiology fellow is responsible for all cardiac emergencies in the hospital during the CICU rotation, including being the code leader at in hospital cardiac arrests.