AHN’s ID-CCM Fellowship: The Merits of Dual Training and Treating a Diverse Population

Allegheny Health Network (AHN) has a unique program in the US that offers a full ID-CCM fellowship. This 3-year training program combines the training of the 2 medical specialties. Their ID-CCM curriculum includes the following:

• Inpatient Consult Service: This includes General ID, Solid Organ, Bone Marrow Transplant, and Burn ICU
• HIV Continuity Clinic: This is held one-half day per week in the first two years of fellowship
• Ambulatory Electives: General ID, Travel Medicine, and Tuberculosis, Clinics
• Rotation Electives: Infection Prevention, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Microbiology, International Medicine (Guyana), and Research.
  

AHN’s fellows have dedicated ICU rotations in their second year to help prepare their transition to the critical care medicine-predominant, third year of fellowship. The third year of medical training is heavily CCM-focused, but time is provided for supplemental training on the ID service.

The combined curriculum provides clinical experience of both specialties, especially in recent years when there was overlap of care related to COVID-19 in patients with severe cases being treated in ICUs, according to one of its current fellows.

“I feel infectious disease and critical care have both come into the limelight post-COVID, because they were the 2 specialties that were needed the most during that time,” said George Bchech, MD, an ID-CCM fellow at AHN.

Bchech points to the benefit of being in a big city hospital environment, and that they are able to see a variety of cases.

“Just being situated in a large city such as Pittsburgh, we have been privileged in seeing varying patient populations and infections,” Bchech said.

As examples of the diverse population and the novel cases, Bchech says he recently saw 2 cases of malaria as well as seeing patients suffering from the consequences of the opioid epidemic. “Patients come in with wounds that need limb amputations or seeing patients that have ruptured valves because of endocarditis or bloodstream infections,” he said.

Bchech was selected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Drexel College of Medicine Chapter.

“I'm grateful for my program director, Dr Nitin Bhanot, for nominating me for this honorable medical society. What it stands for is leadership, community, continued medical education and research,” Bchech said. And to be able to be part of such a prestigious organization which, represents medicine as a whole…I'm honored to wear that badge with pride.”