When the American College of Critical Care Medicine was created in 1988, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) began a tradition dedicated to the recognition of excellence.

The College is committed to fostering the highest goals of multiprofessional critical care medicine, honoring individuals whose achievements and contributions demonstrate personal commitment to these goals, promoting a forum for the development of collaborative practice among the specialties and professions providing critical care, developing guidelines and practice parameters, and providing the Society with a consultative body possessing recognized expertise in the practice of critical care.

The prestigious designation of Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM) honors practitioners, researchers, administrators and educators who have made outstanding contributions to the collaborative field of critical care. The College is comprised of nurses, respiratory therapists, physicians and other healthcare professionals who are all experts in their fields.

As an organization devoted to creating a greater understanding of critical care, the College emphasizes quality management in the practice and administration of critical care, focuses on leadership and underscores the importance of supervision, humane caring, communication and public opinion involving critical care.

Following is a list and brief description of the College's committees.

Credentials Committee
The Credentials Committee is charged with analyzing all applications for Fellowship and recommending a course of action for each applicant to the Board of Regents. 

Committee Chair: Douglas F. Naylor Jr., MD, FCCM
Staff Partner: Carol Prendergast

Ethics Committee
The Ethics Committee is charged with evaluating the ethical implications of all aspects of the practice of critical care and making recommendations regarding appropriate behavior, identifying gray areas which require additional research or debate in order to clarify the ethical implications, selecting appropriate ethics related content as potential topics for inclusion in the annual Congres, writing guidelines and white papers as appropriate, educating members of SCCM regarding ethical practice and principles and addressing all other ethical issues referred by the Board of Regents and the Society’s governing Council.

Committee Chair: Brenda G. Fahy, MD, FCCM 
Staff Partner: Patricia A. Glover, BSN, MS

Fellowship Services Committee
The Fellowship Services Committee is charged with planning and implementing at least quarterly communiques with the general fellowship; planning the annual Town Hall meeting to be held at Congress; generating potential topics for the Congress that highlight the talents of the Fellows of the College, and/or demonstrating the unique accomplishments of the College and completing other communication related functions as designated by the Board of Regents.

Committee Co-chair: Michael J. Murray, MD, PhD, FCCM
Committee Co-chair: Keith M. Olsen, PharmD, FCCM
Staff Partner: Colette Punda

Guidelines Committee
The Guidelines Committee is charged with maintaining the designated revision schedule for all currently published guidelines and practice parameters; monitoring the progress of all guideline and practice parameter preparations and revisions; identifying new areas for guideline or practice parameter development; proposing potential candidates for chairing and participating on guideline or practice parameter task forces; facilitating the implementation of the delineated algorithm for developing a guideline or practice parameter and addressing other guideline or practice parameter related issues as designated by the Board of Regents. It would be appropriate to include some past chairs of Guideline Tasks Forces on the committee.

Committee Co-chair:  Gerard J. Fulda, MD, FCCM
Committee Co-chair: Edgar Jimenez, MD, FCCM
Staff Partner: Lynn Retford 

Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee is charged with analyzing the functioning of the current Board of Regents and selecting appropriate potential candidates from the Fellows to compliment the strengths and weaknesses present.  The committee will construct a slate of candidates that contain at least two names for each vacancy on the Board, with the exception of the positions of the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and the Secretary-General. 

Committee Chair: Timothy S. Yeh, MD, FCCM
Staff Partner: Colette Punda

Distinguished Investigator Award Committee
The Outcomes and Investigations Committee is charged with soliciting nominations for the annual Distinguished Investigator Award, evaluating the nominations and submitting the top three nominees to the Board of Regents for consideration for this award. The committee is also responsible for defining areas for conducting outcomes research related to the guidelines and submitting appropriate reports or proposals to the Board of Regents. 

Committee Co-chair:  Michael J. Murray, MD, PhD, FCCM
Committee Co-chair: Samuel A. Tisherman, MD, FCCM
Staff Partner: Colette Punda