The Cardiothoracic Critical Care Institute

Mastering the Cardiothoracic ICU.

A complete curriculum for the physicians who manage cardiothoracic units: from the first hour after bypass, through low output, bleeding and the open chest, to ECMO, ventricular assist devices and transplant.

Free at launch · For fellows, residents, ICU APPs and attendings

17Clinical categories
144Modules planned
10Core cardiothoracic modules
$0At launch
Why it exists

Scattered expertise, compiled in one place.

There is no dedicated fellowship for the cardiothoracic ICU. The specialty is cobbled together from disconnected fragments and on-the-job experience. This course serves as the didactic core of a full cardiothoracic curriculum, built from the primary literature and current society guidelines and mapped to the COBATRICE syllabus and the ACGME critical care milestones.

Clinician at the bedside of a patient after cardiac surgery
The first 48 hoursBypass, low output, vasoplegia, bleeding and tamponade.
ECMO circuit at the bedside
Mechanical supportIABP, Impella, VA and VV ECMO, durable VADs.
ICU team on rounds
The whole unitThoracic surgery, transplant, ethics and systems.
Inside every module

Walking through the skills, one concept at a time.

PRETEST

Know where you start

A short pretest before the teaching, scored against the post-test so you can see what moved.

5 × VIDEO

Recorded lectures

Five focused lectures per module, each built around one central teaching frame.

READINGS

Original readings

Written for this course, with honest evidence positions, including on trials that were negative.

CHECKS

Embedded questions

Knowledge checks placed inside the module, then a post-test with a full answer key.

BEDSIDE CARD

Something to carry

A printable reference card for the unit. Cards carry no doses, because local preparations differ.

REFERENCES

The primary evidence

A reference list for every module, so each claim can be traced to its source.

Core Cardiothoracic Modules · Opening first

The post-cardiac-surgery core

Ten modules that stand on their own as a course: the patients who fill most cardiothoracic ICU beds, in the order to learn them. Every later module builds on these.

    The full curriculum

    144 modules, opening in 8 stages.

    Each stage gathers modules from several categories. Open one to see its modules, sorted by category.

    Browse by category

    Table of contents

    The same modules, organized by clinical category from A to Q.

    Portrait of the founding faculty member
    Founding faculty

    Jim Hall, MD, MPH

    Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine with a practice that spans critical care, echocardiography and bioethics. He wrote this curriculum and teaches it.

    Critical care Echocardiography Bioethics MPH

    An advisory board of collaborating program directors will join as the curriculum grows.

    Start with the first hour after bypass.

    The core modules are free. Create an account and work through them at your own pace.

    Enroll free