EDUCATION OF THE CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN - HOW MANY PATHWAYS ARE NECESSARY

Physician training in critical care medicine (CCM) has experienced rap id evolution over the past two decades. A variety of training pathways leading to board certification in CCM now exist. These pathways have been designed to accommodate physicians with various backgrounds and t o provide optimal care to critically patients with highly specialized problems. Although there are advantages to the wealth of knowledge and experience obtained in programs with highly specialized and unique ch aracteristics, there appears to be need for standardization and unifor mity in basic CCM training. The organizational changes that took place at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in response to nat ional trends in CCM education are reviewed.