Bootcamp
The 5-day ID boot camp is offered at the beginning of the fellowship. It is designed to teach ID fellows the prerequisite foundational principles necessary to build any further knowledge in clinical infectious diseases and provide practical information unique to Houston Methodist. This course is meant to make the fellow think critically in the context of patient care: Will ordering this test change management? When can I stop antimicrobial therapy? Am I effectively communicating my impressions & recommendations as a consultant? In addition, the “Survival guide to ID fellowship at Houston Methodist” sections will cover a potpourri of practical topics like useful numbers, how to navigate the hospital and Epic (Electronic Health Record) on the ID consult service, etc.
The seminars on fundamental ID topics will be complemented by hands-on interactive case-based exercises. These exercises will have practical scenario-based problems where the fellows apply the concepts and principles they have learned in the seminars. Clinical syndromic topics like meningitis or endocarditis and other advanced topics (zoonotic infections, HIV, bioterrorism agents) will not be covered in the ID boot camp, as they'll be covered in the core curriculum seminar series and taught on clinical rotations over the next two years of the ID fellowship. The ID boot camp will also be recorded and placed on a shared drive so the fellows can access it during the fellowship to review the topics again. The same topics will also be revisited in other problem-based learning exercises that the fellows will do during the ID fellowship.
The topics and schedule for the ID boot camp will be as follows:
DAY 1
DAY2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
The seminars on fundamental ID topics will be complemented by hands-on interactive case-based exercises. These exercises will have practical scenario-based problems where the fellows apply the concepts and principles they have learned in the seminars. Clinical syndromic topics like meningitis or endocarditis and other advanced topics (zoonotic infections, HIV, bioterrorism agents) will not be covered in the ID boot camp, as they'll be covered in the core curriculum seminar series and taught on clinical rotations over the next two years of the ID fellowship. The ID boot camp will also be recorded and placed on a shared drive so the fellows can access it during the fellowship to review the topics again. The same topics will also be revisited in other problem-based learning exercises that the fellows will do during the ID fellowship.
The topics and schedule for the ID boot camp will be as follows:
DAY 1
- Introduction to the Houston Methodist fellowship program and the ID boot camp.
- Clinically important microbial pathogens, common modes of transmission and spread of infectious diseases.
- How to approach a patient with a suspected infection-Part 1: Diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning.
- How to approach a patient with a suspected infection-Part 2: Prognostic reasoning and setting patient care goals.
- Survival guide to ID Fellowship at Houston Methodist topics –1.
- Case based interactive exercises.
DAY2
- How to be an effective consultant and to write effective clinical notes.
- The different kinds of immunocompromised hosts: what an infectious disease clinician needs to know.
- How to read an Imaging study when considering an infection ( Tentative topic contingent on speaker).
- Survival guide to ID Fellowship at Houston methodist topics –2.
- Case based interactive exercises.
DAY 3
- General principles of antimicrobial therapy (overview of antimicrobial classes, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics).
- Antimicrobial basics: cell wall active antibacterial agents (beta lactams, glycopeptides, lipopeptides and colistin).
- Antimicrobial basics: antibacterial agents that inhibit protein synthesis (aminoglycosides, macrolides, linezolid, tetracyclines and glycylcyclines).
- Survival guide to ID Fellowship at Houston methodist topics –3.
- Case based interactive exercises.
DAY 4
- Antimicrobial basics: antibacterial agents that inhibit DNA synthesis, RNA synthesis and replication (quinolones, rifamycin’s and Sulfas).
- Antimicrobial basics: clinically important antifungal agents.
- Antimicrobial basics: clinically important antiviral agent.
- Survival guide to ID Fellowship at Houston methodist topics –4.
- Case based interactive exercises.
DAY 5
- Fundamentals of diagnostic microbiology (Cultures and other pathogen identification tests)-should this be divided into two talks for traditional microbiology and newer tests (molecular diagnostics, MALDITOF etc.)
- Managing infections with antimicrobial resistant Gram-positive bacteria
- Managing infections with antimicrobial Gram-negative bacteria
- Survival guide to ID Fellowship at Houston methodist topics -5
- Case based interactive exercises.