Weekly Conference
Residents are excused from clinical service every Thursday morning from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to attend educational programming. Lectures and workshops are conducted by emergency medicine faculty and visiting faculty experts from all corners of the country. Our curriculum includes joint lectures with other UW training programs (e.g. pharmacy, surgery, pediatrics, radiology), as well as tailored teaching sessions for each PGY level.
Additionally, Chair and Program Director Hours ensure residents have regular contact with department leadership.
Weekly Conference Lectures
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Foundations of Emergency Medicine
Small group, case-based sessions using the nationally recognized Foundations curriculum are a critical piece of our didactic conference, allowing residents to practice the essential management points of high-yield emergency medicine cases in a low-pressure setting.
Along with a team of dedicated EM educators, our residency program’s Assistant Director Dr. Bill Burns created the Foundations ECG curriculum and continues to serve as its course director nationally.
Dr. Dana Loke — another of our department’s accomplished faculty — currently serves as COO of Foundations of Emergency Medicine. In this role, Dr. Loke works closely with the chief officer team to oversee operations and ensure forward progress is made on projects, including curriculum design and managing multiple teams of contributors.
Ask the Expert
Experts from consulting specialties discuss focused clinical management as it relates to the emergency medicine physician. These resident-led sessions focus primarily on questions submitted by our EM residents.
RESUS (REsuscitation, Simulations, Ultrasound, Skills)
Residents benefit from the experience that comes with simulating the most challenging clinical cases during our award-winning RESUS (REsuscitation, Simulations, Ultrasound, and Skills) conferences, which take place in our state-of-the-art simulation center.
RESUS focuses on smaller groups cycling through multiple sim/skills stations in a unified curriculum covering the full scope of emergency medicine. We focus on the first moments of resuscitation and honing interprofessional communication as we integrate both Nursing & Pharmacy residents into our curriculum.
Quality Improvement
Our department has a strong culture and resources around quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS), with our expert faculty encouraging residents to get involved in administrative and operations work throughout their time at UW.
Global Health
This quarterly morning conference led by our experienced global health faculty and fellows focuses on disease processes and unique considerations in providing and teaching emergency care in limited-resource settings.
Professional Development
Having a successful career in emergency medicine involves much more than just great clinical skills. This longitudinal series explores a variety of professional development topics, including CV and cover letter creation, contract negotiation, wellness and career satisfaction, financial literacy and planning, increasing efficiency in the ED, and improving on-shift teaching skills.
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Trauma and Critical Care
These Emergency Medicine-led conferences benefit from our strong connections with Med Flight and EMS, as well as our EM/Critical Care trained faculty, and focus on providing a front-line perspective from the first contact in the field through the stabilization in the ED and in the intensive care unit.
Morbidity and Mortality (M&M)
Each month, a third-year resident presents a case conference to departmental faculty and resident colleagues focusing on high-impact clinical cases in emergency care.
Journal Clubs
Preparing for journal clubs allows residents to discuss strategies for forming questions, search for and analyze relevant scholarly articles, understand study methods and statistical theories, and explore how study results are applied into medical practice.
Journal clubs occurring quarterly during morning conference or in the evening, usually at a faculty member’s home.
Grand Rounds
Expert guest leaders in emergency medicine discuss the latest in research, clinical initiatives, healthcare delivery practices and challenges, diversity and inclusion efforts, and provide comprehensive reviews of hot topics affecting the practice of emergency medicine.
Case Conference
Monthly interactive, case-based educational sessions led by EM residents, with discussion of medical management pearls.
Board Review & Preparation
These focused, rapid review and test-taking strategy sessions cluster around in-training examination administration, as well as simulations to practice for the oral boards experience.
Building confidence through simulation & skills training
Our program focuses on training residents in the timely recognition and appropriate intervention for critically ill patients. Besides learning medical management, simulation training provides the hands-on opportunity to practice skills and real-time decision-making. Residents gain confidence and competence in mastering the principles of crisis resource management: effective teamwork, leadership, and communication in high-stakes situations.
We believe that simulation is a crucial tool in enhancing patient care. We utilize simulation to constructively educate and create a safe space for residents to gain experience managing critically ill patients of all ages, as well as navigating challenging patient encounters.
Intern orientation
Much of our robust intern orientation is conducted in the UW Health Clinical Simulation Center, with both lectures and hands-on training.
Simulation interest group
Residents interested in becoming more involved in learning how to develop a scenario, operate simulation equipment and facilitate a debrief can join our Simulation Interest Group.
RESUS curriculum
Monthly simulation/skills sessions help residents hone their clinical, procedural, and team communication skills.
Milestone assessments
During the PGY 2 year, residents undergo a summative simulation-based assessment with comprehensive feedback. This evaluation helps guide residents in their study focus as they enter the second half of residency.
SimWars & SonoGames
These fun, annual competitions between residents and faculty tests which team can master a series of difficult cases (written and run by residents) and ultrasound skills challenges to claim bragging rights and take control of the “Golden SimBaby” or “Bejeweled Probe” trophies.
Our residents also compete at the national SonoGames® competition held at the SAEM Annual Meeting each May, led by our a fellowship-trained ultrasound faculty.