Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine

Since its inception in 1977, the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine has grown to include the disciplines of critical care medicine and sleep disorders in addition to chest medicine. The faculty share an enthusiasm for applying the tools of physiology, epidemiology and evidence-based medicine to clinical problems and research questions alike.

The division follows a “closed unit” model of critical care, where the intensivist is the responsible physician for the overall care of the patient in the intensive care unit (ICU), coordinating the efforts of other specialists. The critical care specialists in our division provide a strong presence in the ICU which provides not just the best in patient care, but also the best opportunities for teaching the students, residents and fellows who will be our future.

In the last 20 years, sleep medicine has grown into a full-fledged specialty. While sleep disordered breathing is common, and explains the interest of many pulmonary specialists in sleep, this division believes the future of care, training and research extends to the full range of sleep disorders. The expertise and interests of division members includes circadian rhythm problems, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, and pediatric and adolescent sleep problems.

Educationally, members of the division provide teaching throughout the first two years of the medical school curriculum in anatomy, health law and ethics, neurosciences, physical examination skills, and cancer as well as the topics of traditional respiratory physiology and respiratory disease. The division is also involved in education for nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists and other allied health providers, in addition to medical students and graduate medical education residents and fellows.

The focus of our research is in clinical research including trials of new agents, new diagnostic techniques and tools to follow and modify the course of disease in an efficient and outcomes-oriented fashion.

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