Advanced Practice Provider Critical Care Fellowship

General Applicant Information

The program is affiliated with Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and fellows are hired as full-time employees with benefits, which includes a Continuing Medical Education allowance. Applicants must be graduates of an accredited nurse practitioner or physician assistant program, and board-certified through one of the major accrediting bodies specific to their discipline.

To apply for the APP Critical Care Fellowship, applicants must provide the following items:

• A personal statement, to include the applicant’s purpose in fellowship study and future professional goals as they relate to Critical Care.
• An updated curriculum vitae, to include a detailed description of prior critical care experience, if applicable.
• Minimum of three letters of recommendation, at least one from current or recent supervising physician or advanced practice clinician (nurse practitioner or physician assistant).
• An application through the Human Resources website.

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Penn State Health

Penn State Health is an integrated academic health system serving patients and communities across 25 counties in central Pennsylvania. It employs more than 20,900 people systemwide.

The system includes Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and Penn State Cancer Institute based in Hershey, Pa.; Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center in Enola, Pa.; Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center in Camp Hill, Pa.; Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center in Lancaster, Pa.; Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pa.; Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, a specialty provider of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, in Harrisburg, Pa.; and 2,417 physicians and direct care providers at 225 outpatient practices. Additionally, the system jointly operates various healthcare providers, including Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital, Hershey Outpatient Surgery Center and Hershey Endoscopy Center.

In 2017, Penn State Health partnered with Highmark Health to facilitate creation of a value-based, community care network in the region.

Penn State Health shares an integrated strategic plan and operations with Penn State College of Medicine, the University’s medical school. With campuses in State College and Hershey, Pa., the College of Medicine boasts a portfolio of more than $150 million in funded research and more than 1,700 students and trainees in medicine, nursing, other health professions and biomedical research.

Learn more about Penn State Health

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital (left), Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (center) and Penn State Cancer Institute (right)

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

500 University Dr., Hershey, Pa., 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)

• The health system’s 611-bed flagship teaching and research hospital
• The only medical facility in Pennsylvania accredited as both an adult and a pediatric Level I (highest-level) trauma center
• Dedicated surgical, neuroscience, cardiovascular, trauma and medical intensive care units
• Accredited Life Lion critical-care transport providing more than 1,100 helicopter and approximately 750 ground ambulance transports per year
• More than 1,300 faculty members and more than 650 residents and fellows
• Approximately 29,000 admissions, 73,000 emergency department visits, 1.1 million outpatient visits and 33,000 surgical procedures annually
• Designated as a Magnet hospital since 2007

Learn more about Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital

600 University Dr., Hershey, Pa. 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)

• An eight-story, 263,000-square-foot-facility built in 2013 and expanded in 2020
• 160 licensed pediatric beds, 26-bed pediatric intensive care unit and a 56-bed neonatal intensive care unit
• Level IV (highest-level) neonatal intensive care unit
• Level I quaternary (highest-level) pediatric intensive care unit
• Level I (highest-level) pediatric trauma center designation
• Intermediate care unit
• Dedicated pediatric operating rooms
• More than 150,000 pediatric outpatient visits, 20,000 pediatric emergency room visits, and approximately 5,000 pediatric patient discharges annually

Learn more about Penn State Health Children’s Hospital

Welcome to Hershey

More About Hershey

Interested in learning more about living and working in Hershey, Pa.? See details here:

• About the Hershey area
• Virtual tour
• More about Penn State Health and its locations

Fellow wellness, including emotional, spiritual, social and physical health, is a crucial component to training and to becoming a professional, compassionate and resilient physician. Self-care is a skill which must be continually practiced and reinforced. Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health are committed to addressing wellness, with multiple resources readily available.

Institutional resources

• See Penn State College of Medicine wellness resources here

Institutional Resources

Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine celebrate, embrace and support the diversity of all patients, faculty, staff, students and trainees.

Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In keeping with this, Penn State Health has an active Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with various programs, networks and resource groups, including:

• Talks and lectures on diversity, equity and inclusion through the Inclusion Academy
• Regular events on topics such as eradicating racism and creating a culture of inclusiveness
• Many Business Employee Resource Groups (BERGs), including:
  • Disability Business Employee Resource Group
  • Interfaith Business Employee Resource Group
  • LGBTQ+ Business Employee Resource Group
  • Military and Veterans Business Employee Resource Group
  • Multicultural Business Employee Resource Group
  • NextGen Business Employee Resource Group
• Black Physician Professional Staff Association – Resource Group
• Hispanic Professional Association
• Asian Physician and Professional Staff Association
• International Workforce Inclusion
• Inclusion Academy

Learn more about the Penn State Health Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Learn more about the College of Medicine’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Belonging

Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education

The vision at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health is to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to provide culturally excellent health care and research for an increasingly diverse U.S. population. The Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education was formed to help meet that goal.

Learn more about the Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education

Office for a Respectful Learning Environment

In addition, the institution does not tolerate discrimination, biases, microaggression, harassment or learner mistreatment of any kind, and any concerns are immediately addressed by the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment.

Learn more about the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment

Network of Under-represented Residents and Fellows
The Network of Under-represented Residents and Fellows (NURF) is a group of diverse residents and fellows representing all specialties. NURF’s goal is to promote cultural diversity in the residency programs through community involvement, mentorship with diverse faculty, professional networking and support for the recruitment of diverse medical students into the residency programs.

NURF is sponsored by the Penn State College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Office and the Penn State Health Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Learn more information about NURF

The fellowship’s mission is to provide a structured, comprehensive, transition-to-practice program to enhance the knowledge and skills of APPs who will serve the health needs of critically ill adults.

• Expand the knowledge and skills of novice APPs in order to provide safe, high-quality, cost-effective and evidence-based care to critically ill adults.
• Cultivate the APP leaders of the future, who will inspire innovation and share knowledge that will benefit all.
• Increase the confidence of APP trainees in performing procedures and therapeutic interventions.

Katherine Pavlos, PA-C, and Ed Stene, AGACNP-BC, both APP Critical Care fellows, review a CT scan of the chest.

• Anesthesia surgical critical care
• Neuroscience intensive care
• Heart and vascular intensive care
• Medical intensive care
• Nephrology
• Infectious disease
• Palliative care
• Interventional pulmonary
• Medical emergency team
• Elective (six weeks)
• Trauma services

Note: These clinical rotations are subject to change.

• Advanced trauma life support
• Emergency neurological life support
• Fundamental critical care support
• Bedside ultrasound
• Clinical simulation (skills lab and OSCEs)
• Professional development and mentoring

Ed Stene, AGACNP, and Katherine Pavlos, PA-C, APP Critical Care fellows, practice airway skills in the simulation center under the direction of Jennifer King Wilson, AGACNP, CRNA.

Procedures to be performed include, but are not limited to:

• Central line insertion
• Arterial line insertion
• Pulmonary artery catheter insertion
• Endotracheal intubation
• Bedside ultrasound for hemodynamic assessment
• Chest tube insertion
• Thoracentesis

• Satisfactory review on all end of rotation clinical evaluations.
• Obtain minimum grade of 85 percent on end-of-rotation quizzes.
• Completion of one scholarly project (e.g., manuscript submission to a professional journal or completion of QI or research project with abstract submission to a state or national meeting of a professional organization).
• Satisfactory completion of all OSCEs (clinical simulations).
• Attendance at two advanced practice council meetings.
• Attendance at one advanced practice grand rounds.
• Presentation of monthly case conference assigned.
• Facilitation of journal clubs as assigned.
• Completion of FCCS course (as available).
• Completion of ATLS course (as available).
• Completion of ENLS course (as available).

Evaluations will be completed by the clinical mentors at the end of each clinical rotation. End-of-rotation quizzes will also be administered. In addition, quarterly evaluations will be completed by the program director to ensure satisfactory progression in the program, as well as discuss trainee professional goals.