EMS Fellowships

Core Curriculum

 

 

All four EMS fellowships at Summa Health System offer emergency medicine physicians the opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to function as EMS medical directors for any sized system in the public or private sector as well as work in an academic environment.  And all will prepare the Fellow for the subspecialty exam.  The different fellowships do, however, allow emergency physicians to pursue an in depth experience in a particular area of interest or need.

 

Emergency Medicine

 

First and foremost the EMS Fellow is an acute care specialist. Competence in emergency medicine is essential to have credibility in EMS and to ensure proper patient care.  The Fellow will be expected to work 625 hours a year (~5.5 shifts/month or 66 for the year) in the ED.  This number will fluctuate month to month to meet the Fellow’s needs.  The first couple of months focus on learning the ED, becoming comfortable as an EM attending physician at Summa as well as preparing for the EM Boards.  This takes advantage of the summer months when there is less ongoing EMS activity and allows to Fellow to bank shifts for future time away.  Shifts over the required minimum will be allowed as long as they do not interfere with training and are generously compensated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*   The higher number serves as an example and would allow the Fellow to significantly

     supplement his or her income as well as to bank shifts for away rotations, etc

 

** Months in which squad CE is provided

 

 

Shifts will be worked at Akron City and St Thomas hospitals’ emergency departments which together see over 100,000 adult patients with a 30% admission rate.  In the ED, the Fellow will function as an attending and work with residents, as well as medical and paramedic students.  Akron City’s ED is a brand new state of the art facility opening in January 2012 and is home to one of the oldest EM residencies in the USA.  The hospital is a Level 1 trauma center as well as an accredited chest pain and stroke center.  St Thomas Hospital houses the department of psychiatry and is the home of AA (Alcoholic’s Anonymous).

 

Operational EMS

 

All Fellows need to have a firm understanding of how EMS works.  The Fellow will serve as co-medical director of a number of area squads of varying size and complexity ranging from urban to rural.  Responsibilities will include administrative duties, QA, continuing education as well as working shifts in station going on calls.  The Fellows will assist in protocol review and revision ensuring care remains up-to-date and evidence-based.  This will include preparation of teaching and training materials including on-line web based material and protocol questions for scheduled protocol testing.

 

They will attend meetings at a local, regional state and national level that deal with a variety of EMS issues as well as serve on a number of hospital committees that relate to EMS care.

 

In the ED, the Fellow will regularly provide on-line medical direction via the paramedic phone.  Finally, all EMS fellows will complete the NAEMSP EMS Medical Director’s course and attend the annual meeting.

 

 

Field care

 

Fellows need to know how to care for the patient in the field and feel comfortable in the out-of-hospital setting.  They will ride on the ambulance with their squad on a regular and ongoing basis throughout their training.  This will be augmented by a variety of courses such as ITLS, BDLS, and ADLS etc, as well as by simulation training at the ABIA (http://www.abiakron.org/csihe).  Tactical EMS or wilderness medicine courses and international field experiences including some with ambulance physicians are available to deepen this knowledge.

 

 

Disaster Medicine

 

Disaster response and emergency preparedness is critical to EM and EMS.  All Fellows will work with the local and regional disaster and emergency preparedness teams in planning, training and participating in a number of scheduled exercises.  All manner of trainings from table top to hospital to interagency regional exercise will be reviewed and opportunities for international disaster response are being developed.

 

 

EMS education

 

EMS education is the foundation for an effective EMS program.  Knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, is crucial for competent field providers and allows for more cutting edge field care.  The Fellow will assist in the education of paramedics in the St Thomas paramedic program, one of only five nationally accredited programs in Ohio, as well as any Basic and Intermediate EMT classes offered.  This will reinforce an understanding of the differences in levels of providers.  The Fellow will of course assist in regularly scheduled continuing education programs for their squads.  Summa has a rotating preplanned two-year CE curriculum linked to protocol testing which allows the whole curriculum to be reviewed, and the entire protocol tested, every two years.  Hands-on, team-orientated and case-based training is stressed.  Additional on-line materials and simulation training complement this. Finally, the Fellow will assist in teaching EM residents and medical students about EMS.  EMS exposure for the EM residents spans their entire three years of residency.

 

 

Community Health

 

All Fellows will spend time becoming familiar with the different community program available and learn how they integrate into the health care system and EMS.

 

 

 

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