Weekly Conference
Residents are excused from the majority of clinical service every Thursday morning from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to attend educational programming (exceptions for certain off-service rotations). Lectures and workshops are conducted by UW emergency medicine faculty and visiting faculty experts from across the country. Our curriculum also includes joint lectures with other UW training programs (e.g. pharmacy, surgery, pediatrics, radiology) and tailored teaching sessions for each PGY level.
Additionally, Chair, Program Director, and Chiefs’ Hours ensure residents have regular contact with department and program leadership.
Conference Lectures
We are fully supportive of residents developing their non-clinical experience and CVs by getting involved in conference planning and presentations.
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Foundations of Emergency Medicine
Small group, case-based sessions using the nationally recognized Foundations of Emergency Medicine 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, one of our medical student education faculty, also serves as chief quality officer and works closely with the Foundation’s leadership team to oversee operations and ensure forward progress is made on curriculum design.
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.
Case Conference
Monthly interactive, case-based educational sessions led by EM residents, with discussion of medical management pearls.
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.
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.
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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.
Evidence Based Updates
Evidence Based Updates (Journal Club) occurs every two months, either during weekly residency conference or in the evening at a faculty member’s home. At each journal club, we discuss three articles published within the last 3-4 months that are clinically relevant and likely to be practice changing or confirming.
Preparing for and attending journal club gives residents the tools they need to understand study methods and basic statistics, analyze newly published studies, and ultimately decide whether or not to apply these methods to their own clinical practice.
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.
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.
Boards 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 and preparing for the new Certifying Exam format.
Building confidence through simulation & skills training
The University of Wisconsin Emergency Medicine Residency uses simulation training to help residents recognize and manage critically ill and injured patients. Through realistic adult and pediatric emergency medicine scenarios, residents practice timely diagnosis, medical management, procedures, and real-time decision-making in high-acuity situations.
Simulation gives residents hands-on experience in crisis resource management, including teamwork, leadership, communication, and prioritization during emergency care. These skills are essential for leading resuscitations, coordinating interprofessional teams, and responding effectively to life-threatening events in the emergency department.
Our simulation curriculum creates a safe, structured learning environment where residents build confidence and competence in caring for critically ill patients of all ages, managing complex clinical situations, and navigating challenging patient and family encounters.
Intern orientation
Much of our robust intern orientation takes place in the UW Health Clinical Simulation Center, where new residents participate in lectures, hands-on skills training, and simulation-based emergency medicine education.
RESUS curriculum
Monthly simulation and skills sessions help residents strengthen their clinical, procedural, and team communication skills. Residents use high-fidelity simulators, procedural skills trainers, and integrated ultrasound capabilities to practice the acute management of critically ill patients.
Simulation sessions also support training in essential emergency medicine procedures, including airway management, ultrasound, central venous access, and other skills used in the ED.
SimWars & SonoGames
Residents and faculty take part in fun, annual simulation and ultrasound competitions that build teamwork and clinical skills. In SimWars, resident-written cases challenge teams to manage difficult emergency medicine scenarios and compete for the “Golden SimBaby” trophy.
SonoGames tests point-of-care ultrasound skills through friendly competition for the “Bejeweled Probe” trophy. UWEM residents also compete nationally at SonoGames, held each May during the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting, with support from fellowship-trained ultrasound faculty.