Late-Night Lessons: UH Emergency/Critical Care Physician Elevates APP Education Across the System
September 25, 2026
UH Clinical Update | September 2026
On any given Sunday, around 11 p.m., you may find UH Elyria emergency medicine and critical care physician Kristopher Carbone, MD, MS, hosting an educational session for UH APPs around the system.
Kristopher Carbone, MD, MS“They were really clamoring for more dedicated education, especially at night, and so one of the things I decided to develop was a didactic lecture series called the Night Owl Critical Care Series,” Dr. Carbone says. “It’s about a 30-minute talk about various topics, whether it be shock or cardiopulmonary physiology, neuropathologies, cirrhosis, a bunch of varying topics. The APPs really enjoy it.”
Recently, his focus has turned to educating APPs on point-of-care ultrasound. As a physician triple-boarded in emergency medicine, critical care medicine and critical care echocardiography, Dr. Carbone says he sees great utility in the imaging application -- for both doctors and for patients.
“Anytime you have a patient, you can almost do a point-of-care ultrasound, especially in the critical care setting,” he says. “You can do a lot of different kinds of scans and protocols to help you gain more objective information to put the pieces of the puzzle together and obtain a better diagnostic view of what's going on with the patient. A lot of the time, it does help change management. I think it's super useful. It’s cheap, it's easily mobile, we can do it right at bedside, and you don't have to bring a patient to the CT scanner. A lot of the time, it gives a lot of good information that sometimes you can't obtain readily just on a basic physical exam.”
Kehllee Popovich, MSN, ACNP-BC, System Lead for Advanced Practice Education, has nothing but high praise for Dr. Carbone’s commitment to APP education, singling out point-of-care ultrasound specifically.
“Dr. Carbone serves as a transformative change agent in the advancement of critical care education for Advanced Practice Providers across the University Hospitals system,” she says. “His ability to make complex, high-acuity topics both accessible and engaging reflects a deep respect for advanced practice and resident learners and a keen understanding of adult education. This commitment was further demonstrated when Dr. Carbone selflessly dedicated three days of his personal vacation to lead an intensive point-of-care ultrasound course for Advanced Practice Providers in the UH Cleveland Medical Center's Heart Failure ICU. His willingness to invest personal time to elevate clinical skills underscores his passion for mentorship and his belief in APPs as integral in the delivery of critical care medicine.”
UH CEO Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair, recently recognized Dr. Carbone’s talent and commitment with a “Dinner with the Doc” honor.
Dr. Carbone earned his undergraduate degree at John Carroll University, where a profound experience as a volunteer EMT riding in an ambulance with a worsening patient was an event he believes put him on his current career path.
“I remember one particular experience with a patient during an ambulance ride time where I got to connect with the patient,” he recalls. “He was very hypoxemic and short of breath. In retrospect, he probably had either a congestive heart failure exacerbation or a pulmonary embolism, one of the two. Just connecting with him on a basic human level, even though I didn't know what I was doing medically at the time, because I was still very fresh and new, was something that drew me towards medicine.”
After John Carroll, Dr. Carbone earned his medical degree at University of Toledo College of Medicine, followed by residency training in internal medicine/emergency medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and fellowship training in critical care medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. After practicing in New York to be close to his wife’s family, Dr. Carbone and family relocated back to Ohio to be close to his parents, as his father was experiencing significant health challenges. Dr. Carbone joined UH Elyria Medical Center in October 2023.
He says the enhancements at UH Elyria over the past few years are evidence he made a good choice.
“The goal and vision of expanding the cardiac surgery program was a big draw, because I did a lot of my training in Texas utilizing things like ECMO, mechanical circulatory support, with a lot of time in the heart failure, cardiovascular, cardiothoracic surgery and coronary care ICUs,” he says. “That’s a special interest of mine. Also, there was the expression by faculty that they were starting to develop their point-of-care ultrasound program. It’s a good match.”
Congratulations to Dr. Carbone on his “Dinner with the Doc” honor.