EM Residency

[SOCALEM]

I'm a second year starting my rotations soon. I am interested in doing an EM residency when I am finished with school. What are these programs looking for in an applicant? Is there anything I can do while in school to help my application stick out?

 

 

[EMEDPA]

if you have electives do them in em related fields, trauma, anesthesiology, etc

[SOCALEM]

Anyone know how important grades are? Have a little over a 3.0 now. Will that hold me back?

[EMEDPA]

shouldn't be a problem as long as you do well in your em rotation and find someone to write you a good LOR.

apply to several(3 or so) and you should get into at least 1. most folks make the mistake of only applying to 1.

[akdEM]

I'm in the process of applying right now. From what I've been told, most emphasize experience and personality over grades. Although there is usually some kind of GPA cutoff of either 3.0 or 3.5, it just depends on the program. I'd try to make good with your EM preceptor and make sure your program director will be able to have plenty of nice things to say about you.

[SOCALEM]

Thanks for the replies. Akdem, by experience do you mean EM rotations or prior PA school experience?  Good luck. From everything I've read doing a residency seems like a no-brainer.  Anyone else have any experience applying? 

[akdEM]

I was referring to prior experience like EMS or working as an ED tech, but those certainly don't seem to be requirements. More of an added bonus than anything. One of the places I'm applying to wants a letter of rec from my EM preceptor, so there definitely seems to be an emphasis on the EM rotation compared to the other ones. The general vibe I get is that they care much more about your evaluations, letters of rec, and work experience than they do about grades.

 

It's exciting... Hopefully within the next few weeks/months I'll be hearing back about interviews. Good luck to you too!

[True Anomaly]

What a residency cares about is that you have demonstrated an interest in emergency medicine- not just from your prior career before PA school, but also what you have done during PA school- have you pursued as much ER as possible (and rotations related to the ER) during your rotations? What have you done during didactic to show you want to go into the ER? How well did you do during your ER rotation?

 

Grades matter a bit, but I'm not aware of a program that has a defined cut-off GPA. But if you've barely scraped by PA school and barely passed the PANCE, they will know and it generally doesn't look favorably upon you- remember, the hours you'll be working during residency will be more than during PA school in addition to lots and lots of reading during off-time. With the CAQ exam now in place for many specialties, you'll probably find a lot of programs requiring their graduates to take and pass the CAQ exam to objectively demonstrate their new knowledge base.

[DolphinsPA2]

Do you think taking courses like PHTLS and AMLS would look good to residency program directors?

[EMEDPA]

Do you think taking courses like PHTLS and AMLS would look good to residency program directors?

couldn't hurt. I would look more at courses like ATLS and FCCS though.

[BrooklynPA-C]

I'm kind of flipping SOCALEM's original post around here. As someone considering a EM residency, what should I look for in a program to make sure it's a good fit for me?

[BARONEUS]

I have a question on EM residency timing. Would it be better coming out of the professional realm from, say, urgent care into a residency, or is it best to try and tack it onto the end of PA school?

[True Anomaly]

I have a question on EM residency timing. Would it be better coming out of the professional realm from, say, urgent care into a residency, or is it best to try and tack it onto the end of PA school?

 

I've seen people do both- come straight out of school and also come from working an urgent care center, and really it all depends on what you're most comfortable with.  I personally started right after PA school, and it seemed to work well for me.  A residency-mate of mine came from working an ER, and the biggest hurdle for her was the decrease in salary.  It's hard to go back to a resident's salary when you've been earning some money after PA school, but she made it work.  

 

The other thing to consider is that when you start working right after PA school, the first year out you are like a sponge- you absorb every bit of knowledge and practice style that you run across, and sometimes bad habits can set in that are much harder to break than if they weren't there in the first place.  But, people have gone into residency after working for a year after PA school and transition rather well- you have to be willing to adapt to whatever environment you end up in, which is a key quality in a good resident.

 

Just some things to consider.  I realize I didn't really give you a straight answer, but the truth is it's different for everyone.

[BARONEUS]

No that helps. Thanks.

 

 

 

[CorpsmanUP]

What would you think of doing the 15 months Postgraduate Fellowship in Trauma and Critical Care for Physician Assistants at St. Lukes followed by the 12 month Emergency Medicine Post Residency Fellowship?  I have a source of passive income to offset the living stipend so getting out and maximizing income is not my first priority upon graduating.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

What would you think of doing the 15 months Postgraduate Fellowship in Trauma and Critical Care for Physician Assistants at St. Lukes followed by the 12 month Emergency Medicine Post Residency Fellowship? I have a source of passive income to offset the living stipend so getting out and maximizing income is not my first priority upon graduating.

I would do the EM then trauma, personally. Go broad and then specific. I think it sounds like a great idea and I would do it. Not sure how they would view it. I think they want to see dedication to "their" field.

[mjohn7wy]

Hey CorpsmanUP,

 

I actually had that thought pass through my head, I just finished a fellowship in EM and now working in truama/critical care. I felt that i had a decent amount of ICU and trauma experince from my time in EM fellowship to go into my current position. I still am not the most comfortable with intricacys of ciritical care that you might get from a full time fellowship in critical care, however, i am more then capable of managing these patients just base on the EM and i am getting some awesome on the job training now!!

 

matt

[coloradopa]

What would you think of doing the 15 months Postgraduate Fellowship in Trauma and Critical Care for Physician Assistants at St. Lukes followed by the 12 month Emergency Medicine Post Residency Fellowship?  I have a source of passive income to offset the living stipend so getting out and maximizing income is not my first priority upon graduating.

I would figure out what you want to do and then just do one. Both have a very perishable skill set. If you haven't set those skills by working for a few years afterward there is not as much value. If you want to do critical care do that fellowship. If you want to do EM do that. If you do CCM then EM and apply for a critical care job, I'm going to wonder how current your critical care skills. If you apply for EM then you missed a year when you could have been working and building job experience. I do critical care at a tertiary non trauma SICU and occasionally moonlight at some small ERs. I have to dial things back a bit in the ER but outside of ortho I don't really have any problems.