Emergency Medicine

You will be supervised by pediatric emergency medicine faculty for all patient encounters, with the majority of teaching and feedback taking place via direct patient contact and interactions with faculty. 

This rotation is a series of one-month rotations at Oishei Children’s Hospital and occurs approximately five times during the three years of training.

A wide array of skills are taught, including:

• triage of illness acuity
• development of specific history
• examination
• presentation and documentation techniques
• experience with emergent care protocols,
• building proficiency with basic procedures common to acute pediatric care.

Presenting patient complaints are quite varied, including:

• common and rare infections
• major and minor trauma
• acute neurologic problems such as seizures and headaches
• flares of chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel diseases, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and oncologic emergencies

Particularly close supervised training takes place in cases of suspected physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence, acute psychiatric care and pediatric and adolescent toxicology. You will be called upon to assist triage, assess, and manage problems across a full spectrum of illness severity, ranging from minor concerns to life-threatening disease or injury. 

Interpretation of common radiographs, electrocardiograms, laboratory results and rapid bedside assays with faculty assistance is another important component of this clinical experience. Appropriate documentation, arrangements for patient follow-up, and hand-offs of care are emphasized in this setting. 

Subspecialty guidance is an integral component to this rotation, as residents are expected to contact pediatric specialists to manage many different specific disease processes.

Less experienced residents are more intensely supervised, with greater independent function for higher acuity patients gradually negotiated with faculty attendings based upon assessment of acute care proficiencies.

Training and experience in basic pediatric procedures are expected to develop throughout the rotation, including:

• venous and arterial blood draws
• bladder catheterization
• lumbar puncture
• laceration care and suturing
• nursemaid’s elbow reduction
• splint application
• pelvic examination
• foreign body removal from various orifices or soft tissue embedment

Approximately 15 to 25 patients in a 10-hour-shift.

• PGY-2 and PGY-3
• PGY-4 (elective)

4 weeks

• Oishei Children’s Hospital is a major regional referral center and Level 1 Trauma Center meeting the emergent care needs of children from all different social backgrounds, ethnicities and geographic locations.