Surgical critical care services

Headshot of Niels Martin, MD
Niels D. Martin, MD

We are excited to have you here and we hope that the next several weeks will give you an introduction and an appreciation to the field of surgical critical care. The mastery of critical care is a life long journey. Our goals for you are to be challenged and taught by our expert faculty and to gain a fundamental understanding of both the art and the science of critical care medicine. We also want to expose you to a model of multidisciplinary care. You will have the unique opportunity to work alongside both surgical and anesthesia intensivists, Critical Care Nurse Practitioners, Critical Care Fellows, residents from a variety of specialties, critical care nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, clinical nutritionists, and others to name a few.

SCCS Mission Statement

Improving Critical Care quality and satisfaction while decreasing cost for SICU patients through enhanced staffing, standardizing practice, and order management.

Again, welcome to the SCCS. We look forward to working with you and sincerely hope that you have a wonderful experience and enjoy critical care as much as we do.

Surgical critical care services protocols and guidelines


Emergency Surgery Service

Emergency Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania has expanded since its inception. The division offers an in-house attending surgeon coverage with expedient operating room availability 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Expertise and vast experience in managing acute surgical emergencies including but not limited to abdominal catastrophes secondary to bowel perforation, obstruction or fistulization, abdominal compartment syndrome, severe necrotizing soft tissue infections, and biliary obstruction. We cater to the highly complex general and emergency surgical issues that could overwhelm a community hospital’s human and technical resources. The Emergency Surgery Service evaluates nearly 2000 patients annually and performs well over 1200 cases per year. We welcome all transfer requests and with an in –house attending available around the clock, we do our best to expedite all transfers in, especially those requiring surgical intensive care. Providers seeking transfer call 1-877-937-PENN for rapid, easy access to speak directly to an attending. For critically ill patients in need of immediate quaternary-level care, consider the vast, state-of-the –art resources at Penn Medicine.