Emergency Medicine
Emergency medicine physicians are perhaps medicine’s last remaining generalists. In emergency departments, emergency physicians see patients who are acutely ill or injured and in need of immediate evaluation and resuscitation, as well as patients with less urgent acute complaints and patients with chronic concerns who do not have access to a primary care physician. A typical shift in an emergency department includes seeing adults and children, patients with both traumatic injuries and medical illnesses, and both making medical diagnoses and performing bedside procedures. While often portrayed as “jack of all trades, master of none,” emergency physicians must actually be more skilled at acute resuscitation and diagnosis and management of emergent complications of specific disease processes than most specialists. Emergency physicians work on the frontline of medicine and are devoted to the care of “anyone, anything, anytime.”
For 3rd year students considering a career in Emergency Medicine, see here for specific recommendations while planning your 4th year schedule.”
Length of Training: 3-4 years
Average Hours Worked per week: 46.4
Please see the AAMC Specialties website for more detailed information.
And see our Vanderbilt Specialties page if you have not yet registered for the AAMC CiM.
Nicole Bakhoum (nicole.g.bakhoum@vanderbilt.edu)
Joseph Ebersole (joseph.m.ebersole@vanderbilt.edu)
Will Scheving (william.l.scheving@vanderbilt.edu)
Common e-mail address (EMIG@Vanderbilt.edu)
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Charles Lei (charles.lei@vanderbilt.edu)
VUMC Residency Director:
Dr. Nicole McCoin (nicole.mccoin@vanderbilt.edu)
Career Advising:
Dr. Kendra Parekh (kendra.parekh@vanderbilt.edu)
VUMC Faculty to Contact:
Think EM are all generalists, think again. Many of our faculty have taken on unique interests, either through ACGME-accredited fellowships or academic focus. Here is a sampling of the specialties of some of our faculty:
1. Research – Dr. Sean Collins
2. International Health – Dr. Brian Bales
3. Ultrasound – Dr. Brian Bales, Dr. Matt Lipton
4. Sports Medicine – Dr. Kevin Dabrowski
5. Toxicology – Dr. Saralyn Williams
6 Pediatric EM – Dr. Holly Hanson
7. Medical Photography – Dr. Larry Stack
8. Shadowing or EMS ride-alongs – Dr. Kendra Parekh
Emergency medicine has been the principal driving force behind the #FOAM (Free Open Access Mededucation) movement. Therefore, there are TONS of great, free blogs, podcasts, and other EM educational resources all over the web. We’ve listed our favorites below. Any senior student going into EM should be familiar with at least a few of these resources, and junior students and those going into other specialties are also encouraged to take advantage of the great education they have to offer:
Essential reading/listening: recommended for anyone pursuing a career in EM
EMCrit Blog and Podcast (http://emcrit.org): The EM-Critical Care Blog and Podcast from Dr. Scott Weingart continues to set the standard for online emergency medicine education. Also be sure to check out the accompanying webtext (http://crashingpatient.com/)
Emergency EKG Video of the Week (http://ekgumem.tumblr.com/): Emergency cardiology guru Dr. Amal Mattu presents amazing EKG pearls in weekly 10-15 minute videos.
EM-RAP (http://www.emrap.org/): While a subscription service, Emergency Medicine Reviews and Perspectives is well worth the annual fee for senior students going into EM. It consists of a monthly 3-4 hour digest of high-yield EM education, edited by the hilarious LA County-USC faculty member Dr. Mel Herbert. Great listening during workouts or while driving.
Free Emergency Talks (http://freeemergencytalks.net/): Dr. Joe Lex has posted free audio of thousands of lectures and grand rounds from conferences around the world.
Second tier: recommended for EM-bound seniors:
Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (http://academiclifeinem.com/): Great blog which initially focused on academic and student issues but is becoming increasing clinical. Check out “Paucis verbis” cards and “Tricks of the Trade.”
Dr. Smith’s EKG Blog (http://hqmeded-ecg.blogspot.com/): EKG pearls from Dr. Stephen Smith, one of the foremost researchers and authors on emergency electocardiography, focused mainly on Acute MI.
EM Basic (http://embasic.org/): Recent residency graduate Dr. Steve Carroll presents podcasts on core EM content meant as a “boot camp” for medical students and new residents.
EM Tutorials (http://emtutorials.com/): the European equivalent of EM Basic, still with a lot of great core content for US trainees.
EMed Home (http://www.emedhome.com/): another subscription service, highlighted by monthly podcasts from legendary educator Dr. Amal Mattu as well as a lot of video CME lectures.
Emergency Medicine Cases (http://www.emergencymedicinecases.com/): a great Canadian EM Core Content podcast that offers free subscriptions to students.
Emergency Physicians Monthly (http://www.epmonthly.com/): popular emergency medicine periodical that posts most of their articles for free online.
HQMedEd: Educational videos from Hennepin County Medical Center.
Life in the Fast Lane (http://lifeinthefastlane.com/): once the best EM educational resource on the web, it is unfortunately not so active anymore, but the archives still contain an amazing volume of high-yield educational material not available anywhere else.
Ultrasound Podcast (http://feeds.feedburner.com/EmergencyUltrasoundPodcastPodcast): learn how to bedside ultrasound with these highly visual podcasts that look great on an iPad.
St. Emlyn’s Virtual Hospital (http://www.stemlyns.org.uk/): learn to manage over 600 simulated cases in this virtual hospital.
Third tier: for the EM-bound senior with lots of time on his/her hands:
EM Literature of Note (http://www.emlitofnote.com/): online EM journal club.
Emergency Medicine Updates (http://emupdates.com/): Dr. Reuben Strayer, perhaps the smartest man in emergency medicine, doesn’t post often, but when he does…wow.
EMRAP.tv (http://emrap.tv/): no longer active, but there are still a lot of great videos in the archive of this free EMRAP companion.
ERCast (http://ercast.libsyn.com/): Dr. Rob Orman’s podcast is not as active as it used to me because he recently joined the EMRAP team, but check out the archives for some really great stuff.
ICU Rounds (http://burndoc.libsyn.com/): no longer active podcast from former Vanderbilt faculty member Dr. Jeff Guy, but the episodes in the archives are worth their weight in gold.
PHARM (http://prehospitalmed.com/): great clinical blog from an Australian flight physician, all about critical care in the prehospital environment.
The Poison Review (http://www.thepoisonreview.com/): toxicology blog.
Resus.Me (http://resus.me/): Australian blog focused on resuscitation. Also check out the accompanying podcasts (http://resus.me/category/podcasts/).
Resus Review (http://resusreview.com/): resuscitation tidbits from Hennepin County Medical Center.
ScanCrit (http://www.scancrit.com/): Where anesthesia, emergency medicine and critical care meet.
TheNNT (http://www.thennt.com/): great evidence-based medicine reviews of the true yield of common therapies and diagnostic tests.
The Trauma Professional (http://regionstraumapro.com/): Trauma tips and tricks from Regions Hospital in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Information from the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) Advising Students Committee in Emergency Medicine (ASC-EM):
We are a consensus working group dedicated to improving advising for all students and advisors. Our goal is to improve both the quality, consistency, and access to advising for all Emergency Medicine applicants and their advisors.
As this year’s residency application cycle draws closer, we wanted to make you aware of some resources we have available for students applying to emergency medicine as well as those that advise them. All of our resources use a combination of evidence based data and large group consensus when data is not available. Our resources are available on our website and include:
EM Applying Guide – This is a guide for medical students interested in applying for Emergency Medicine residency. It serves as an initial resource for planning your fourth year and moves through the application process. Please supplement it with personalized advising from an academic EM advisor. Please see below for applying guides for our special applicant populations.
Emergency Medicine Re-Applicant Applying Guide
The Military Emergency Medicine (EM) Applying Guide
The Couples Match Emergency Medicine Applying Guide
The International Medicine Graduate (IMG) Emergency Medicine Applying Guide
The Osteopathic Emergency Medicine Applying Guide
The “At-Risk” Applicant Emergency Medicine Applying Guide
EM Applicant FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions of the EM Applicant
Medical Student Planner – This helps you plan your performance and activities in medical school starting from the first year. Please see below for medical student planners for our special applicant populations.
The Military Air Force Emergency Medicine (EM) Student Planner
The Military Army Emergency Medicine (EM) Student Planner
The Military Navy Emergency Medicine (EM) Student Planner
The Couples Match Emergency Medicine Student Planner
The International Medicine Graduate (IMG) Emergency Medicine Student Planner
The Osteopathic Emergency Medicine Student Planner
Existing Advising Resources List 2018 – An annotated list of resources for the student interested in EM.
Additionally, we have developed a student advising consult service. This is an an active, living consult service which serves to answer specific questions related to: advising individual students, advising non-traditional students or student groups, and general advising concerns. This service is available to advisors only (Deans, clerkship directors, etc; NOT students). Any advisors with questions can email the consulting service at studentadvisement@cordem.org. All conversations will remain confidential.