There are 22 General Hospitals in

• There are 22 General Hospitals in Israel • There are 18 General ICU’s • The percentage of ICU beds out of total beds is 1. 2%-1. 5% • All ICU’s are “closed units”

• Critical Care Medicine is a formal subspecialty since 1993 • Certification requires a full residency and passing a written and an oral examination • Residency time is 2 years.

• 50% of intensivists are anaesthetists in their background • 30% are internists in their background • 20% are surgeons in their background

Formal CCM Training • 12 months in a General ICU • 3 months in a Cardiac ICU • 3 rotations of 3 months each from a choice of : PICU, Nephrology, Pulmonology, Infectiology, Neurosurgery and Thoracic surgery • For non-Anaesthetists 3 months in Anaesthetic department is a must.

Additional ICU Training • Medical students are exposed to ICU during their Internal Medicine and Surgery Blocks (5 th & 6 th years) • Residents from Anaesthesiology, Surgery and Orthopedics are doing time in the ICU • A CME program in Anaesthesia &Critical Care exists in the Sacler Medical School in the Tel-Aviv University

• The key clinical decision makers in the ICU’s in Israel are the Head of the unit together with the senior consultants, all of whom are CCM specialists

Pressing Educational needs • A need to have students coming for a formal block to the ICU not as a choice • A formal rotation in the ICU should be a must for residents in Internal Medicine • A CME program dedicated to CCM only should be established • Exchange programs, clinical and research, with overseas ICU’s are a real need in order to widen exposure