Frequently Asked Questions

Fellows do not take at-home pager calls. CPMC has an in-house intensivist every night of the year who handles after hour clinic calls and nighttime consults.

While rotating in the ICU at CPMC, fellows work a block of four consecutive nights (typically Wed-Sat) in lieu of a 7-day week of daytime shifts.

Typically, this equates to a total of 6 weeks of night shifts during the 3-year fellowship.

Fellows will work one weekend a month on all other rotations.

Fellows are expected to work one of the three end-of-the-year holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s) per year at either CPMC or Highland.

Most fellows live and rent in San Francisco in neighborhoods around the Van Ness campus (Nob Hill, Pac Heights) or as far east as the inner Richmond.

A few fellows have chosen to live in the East Bay and have less concern about the commute.

If living in San Francisco, commuting east across the bay bridge in the morning takes ~15-20 minutes and returning into the city takes ~30 to 45 minutes.

The Bay Bridge Toll is reimbursed while on rotation or while attending pulmonary clinic at Highland. 

CPMC-Highland strives to strike the perfect balance of required training time to hone their craft in pulmonary critical care medicine while allowing enough time for recovery and pursuit of non-medical related activities.

Most fellows often have enough capacity to sign up for moonlighting shifts on weekends at various institutions across the Bay area.

The CPMC GME sponsors annual pulmonary department social events and the internal medicine department has a robust wellness program in which all fellowships departments participate.

CPMC does not have training resident programs in anesthesia or emergency medicine, so our pulmonary fellows have priority when it comes to patient airway management.