About the Division
DIVISION OF CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

Critical Care Medicine covers the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of clinical problems representing the extreme of human disease. The increase in emergency medicine trained residents pursuing critical care fellowship training has necessarily resulted in a broad reconsideration of the role that emergency departments should play in the care of the critically ill.

Since 2012, UF Emergency Medicine has partnered with departments of Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine and Surgery in Critical Care Medicine. Although it is relatively new as a sub-specialty certification, Critical Care Medicine is now the third largest sub-specialty in Emergency Medicine.

What makes UF’s Department of Emergency Medicine’s Division of Critical Care Medicine unique?

There are several roles within UF’s Division of Critical Care Medicine that makes UF approach to this specialty unique.

First, emergency medicine intensivists are bridging care of critically ill patients prior to their admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). That means that the delivery of critical care occurs in the emergency department and beyond. Under the leadership of the Dr. Becker, our group champions the delivery of clinical care to ambulatory, rural and other community settings. His contributions include the development and initiation of educational programs to local, state, and national pre-hospital professionals as well as an international audience through global health initiatives.

Secondly, UF emergency intensivists are local champions of coordinating care for patients during the entire trajectory of their acute illness and continuum of care through the hospital.

Finally, UF emergency intensivists are leaders in resuscitation of patients suffering from sepsis, acute lung injury and cardiac arrest, with multiple clinical, administrative and research initiatives that aim to improve the likelihood of survival and recovery from cardiac arrest.

At UF, our group of emergency intensivists work in all surgical ICUs. Under the leadership of Dr. Patel, point-of-care ultrasound has become an integral part of everyday patient care across all ICUs.