Training intensivists and clinician-scientists for the 21st century: the Oregon scholars program

Innovation is important for the development and advancement of any medical specialty. Leaders in anesthesiology have emphasized the need for more training in critical care and additional research to advance our specialty.

To help address this need, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) developed an innovative training program that combines a critical care medicine (CCM) or research fellowship with traditional clinical anesthesia training. This article outlines the program structure, challenges, and successes of this innovative approach to training anesthesiology clinicians and scientists.

Since the program began in 2006, we have filled all available positions and currently have 9 scholars in the anesthesiology/CCM track and 3 in the anesthesiology/research track at the postgraduate year-2 to postgraduate year-5 levels. Our first class of scholars graduated in the summer of 2010. The Oregon Scholars Program (OSP) scholars and faculty have confronted challenges, including the transition from resident in the operating rooms to fellow in the critical care units. In 2007, our residents acknowledged the OSP/CCM scholars' expertise in CCM and have looked to them as teachers and advocates for their education during their CCM rotations. In July 2007, OHSU received a National Institutes of Health T32 training grant to support the research component of the OSP. OSP scholars' research productivity has resulted in 11 publications, 3 abstracts, 3 presentations, 3 research grants, and 1 resident research award. Several other anesthesiology programs have recently instituted similar programs to address the need for anesthesiologists trained as intensivists and clinician-scientists.