Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant -APP Critical Care Fellowship

Critical Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship Program

This 9-month Critical Care Fellowship takes place at the University of Maryland Medical Center downtown campus and at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. The University of Maryland Medical Center is a Magnet-designated facility dedicated to time-sensitive critical illness. R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center is a distinguished multidisciplinary clinical, educational and research institution dedicated to both the prevention and management of severe injury and its consequences.

The University of Maryland Medical Center recognizes the challenges that new NP's face starting or transitioning into new practice areas and implemented a Critical Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship Program in 2012. The fellowship is designed to provide a transitional clinical/didactic immersion experience for licensed and certified acute care NPs who seek to work as a Critical Care Nurse Practitioner. The fellowship gained Accreditation with Distinction by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in 2020, becoming one of 19 accredited APP fellowship programs in the country. The program was reaccredited in 2024.

The fellowship is an intense 9-month program focusing on the care of the critically ill. The fellowship allows novice NPs the unique ability to rotate through critical care settings such as neuroscience critical care, medicine, surgical and cardiac surgery critical care units, and trauma critical care units as a fully functioning provider under the supervision of a preceptor.

The aim is to prepare newly licensed Acute Care NPs and PAs who want to practice in Critical Care/Trauma settings for transition into practice and to establish clinical competency in these areas. Specifically, the fellowship program builds upon professional judgment and critical thinking skills acquired throughout the NPs and PAs graduate program. The fellowship features include: clinical immersion, a dedicated academic day per week, multidisciplinary lectures, application of learning via case studies and simulation-based competencies, invasive procedural skills labs, professional development, and point of care ultrasound. This prepares NP fellows to assume the duties of independent provider at the conclusion of the program.

Graduation from an accredited Acute Care NP program or PA program. Board certification prior to start date. BLS, ACLS.