APP Adult Critical Care Fellowship

What is the APP Adult Critical Care Fellowship?

The Lee Health Adult Critical Care Medicine APP Fellowship is a one-year program for fully licensed and certified PAs and NPs. This program is tailored for newly graduated APPs or those transitioning into the field of critical care medicine who seek clinical training and mentorship. The fellowship emphasizes the development of competent, compassionate, and efficient critical care providers capable of managing a diverse range of acute medical conditions. Fellows will gain expertise in comprehensive patient assessment, clinical decision-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration, with a focus on delivering high-quality care across adult patient populations in the ICU setting.

Interested APPs must have appropriate certification: PAs must be NCCPA certified, APRNs must be appropriately certified to treat hospitalized critically ill adult patients (i.e. Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Certification Adult-Gerontology).

Lee Health Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship Program is accredited as an Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship Program by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation in Practice Transition Programs.

The current sites included in this accreditation designation are:

Lee Community Healthcare Inc. - North Fort Myers
Gulf Coast Medical Center
HealthPark Medical Center

The current workplace settings included in this accreditation designation are:

Surgical
Critical Care
Primary Care

Online Application for Lee Health's APP Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.

Apply Now

Are you ready to apply to our APP Primary Care Fellowship? Fill out our online application now! For further details, please contact: APPfellowship@leehealth.org (link opens in a new window)

What is the curriculum for the APP Critical Care Fellowship?

The APP Critical Care Fellowship at Lee Health provides a robust infrastructure to expand the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to move the APP from entry-level competence toward proficiency and expertise.

The program curriculum encompasses Organizational Enculturation, Practice-Based Learning, peer support, and personalized mentoring.

Organizational Enculturation topics facilitate the assimilation of the APP Fellow into the culture, practices, and values of Lee Health and the APP’s profession.

Practice-Based Learning. This includes concepts intended to facilitate competence in the standards of practice and professional performance of the APP Fellow. These are introduced as lecture topics and are reinforced by clinical mentors in practice settings. During Academic Conference Days, the APP Fellow presents cases with explicit examples of how these concepts have been applied in the practice setting. These topics include: Well-being & Burnout, Professionalism, Practice Efficiency, Effective Communication, Critical thinking, Principles of Medical Ethics, Interprofessional teaming, Social determinants of health, and Billing Compliance.

Fellows will participate in supervised direct patient care activities as assigned by the clinical faculty mentor(s). This includes having experiences with critically ill patients including those presenting with medical, surgical, and neurosurgical problems. Fellows are expected to expand on their fund of knowledge of general internal medicine, learning how to manage patients on ventilator support, vasopressor support, antimicrobial therapy, and nutritional requirements for critically ill patients. Fellows will also gain competence in common intensive care medicine procedures.

What elective rotations are offered to APP critical care fellows?

Elective rotations are meant to enhance the education of the fellow, mainly to address learning gaps and weaknesses. These experiences may also be used to explore a possible opportunity post-fellowship, or to facilitate a transition to the same. They may be hands-on or shadowing experiences. Elective rotations must contribute to the primary goals of the fellowship and may vary in frequency and length, on a case-by-case basis, depending on multiple factors.

Fellow responsibilities will include:

Work shifts as assigned
Complete online educational modules as assigned
Prepare and deliver regular didactic presentations on topics in critical care medicine
Participate in research activities as directed, such as quality improvement projects
Adhere to the standard of care in clinical practice
Attend weekly academic conferences (typically on Thursday afternoons)
Participate in professional development through curriculum, development, research and continuing education opportunities

What are the time requirements for the APP Critical Care Fellowship?

The time requirement for the APP Adult Critical Care Fellowship is rigorous. Each fellow is responsible for a minimum of 60 hours per week devoted to training. Work hours may be split between rotation, on-site training, reading, modules, conferences and research activities. Each fellow is expected to work the schedule set by their mentor(s). Schedules will vary and consist of days, evenings, nights, weekends and holidays.