Fellowship Activities

The Western Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee is the regional body of EMS physicians providing the leadership, quality assurance planning and protocol writing for the Western Regions of New York State. The EMS fellow serves as an ex-officio member of this body, and is expected to attend meetings and provide feedback on regional EMS advancement. The state committee (SEMAC) meets several times a year near Albany, New York. The fellow will be expected to travel to at least one of these meetings to gain insight and experience into NYS EMS planning. 

As the region’s largest provider of ambulances, American Medical Response covers a wide variety of medical responses in the Western New York System. The fellow is an assistant medical director and is afforded the opportunity to lead with the leaders for the highest volume and largest employer of advanced level providers. The fellow participates in 9-1-1 ambulance response, quality care initiatives, and medical direction — playing a large role in EMS education. 

Flight operations for the EMS fellow include online medical control, assisting crews both on scene and as part of critical hospital transfers. Offline, the fellow actively participates as an official assistant medical director of flight operations. This includes monthly medical director meetings, quality improvement and a voice on operational concerns. The fellow is also provided personal and safety equipment for flight time as a medical provider. 

The fellow will provide emergency medical coverage for players, staff and fans during Buffalo Bills games in their home stadium. There are two in-stadium emergency departments and a cadre of EMS personnel working to support these NFL home games that can draw upwards of 80,000 spectators. The EMS fellow functions as a physician overseeing both EMS providers and emergency nurses in these emergency clinics for on-scene evaluation, triage and treatment. 

The Office of Prehospital Care (OPC), as a coordinator of EMS medical direction, provides a diverse experience for the EMS fellow. In Western New York, there are EMS systems that are police based, private, volunteer, third party, first response and helicopter. The EMS faculty, through their medical direction affiliations, allows an EMS fellow to traverse several different types of systems, from large to small, to provide a full-scale experience in EMS medical direction. In addition to offline systems practice, Erie County Medical Center’s Emergency Department receives a considerable amount of online calls from EMS providers in the field each day requesting real-time medical direction. The fellow will also participate in direct patient care with some of these agencies.

The Office of Prehospital Care (OPC) is the state contracted EMS program agency, serving Erie and Wyoming counties. The office has full and part-time staff whose function is largely education and quality improvement. With the function of quality care and chart reviewed data, there is continual flow of EMS records for the purposes of study and research. Several research projects have been supported for EMS faculty and residents through the Office of Prehospital Care. 

Upon graduation from our 3-year program, emergency medicine residents in Buffalo are equipped to treat emergent patients in any setting, whether urban, suburban, rural, or in the field. Residents rotate through 6 different emergency departments during their 3 years. The residency has a required second year EMS/Tox rotation. Residents may also do an Advanced EMS elective or enter the EMS scholarly track. The fellow plays an integral role in our resident’s EMS education.