Like other intensivists, the neurointensivist assumes the primary care role for his or her patients in the ICU, coordinating both the neurological and medical management of the patient. Hence, the Neurocritical Care Core Curriculum is evenly split between neurological and medical diseases and conditions, and fellowship training will include rotations through non-neurological ICUs. Most uniquely, Neurocritical care is concerned with the interface between the brain and other organ systems in the setting of critical illness.

Fellowship training in Neurotrauma and Critical Care Neurology at Detroit Medical Center/ Wayne State University has been in place for more than 15 years.  Education and research are an integral part of providing a continuing service to acutely ill neuroscience patients. Currently, our fellows train at the neuroscience unit in Detroit Receiving Hospital at Detroit Medical Center, which is a primary unit functioning as a "closed ICU" model where the ICU team directs all medical management. The unit is completely staffed and equipped as a critical care area, having routinely a 1:2 nurse-to-patient ratio with resident and fellow coverage and an attending faculty member. The population in the unit consists of patients that are medically or neurologically unstable from the specialty areas of neurology and neurosurgery.