Clinical Experience
The foundation of Emergency Medicine training at ACMC is the clinical experience. We care for over 100,000 patients annually, 30% of whom are children, and have an admission rate of 28%. Additionally, ACMC is one of the two busiest Level I Trauma Centers in the state of Illinois. This high volume and high acuity setting, combined with over 130 hours of faculty coverage per 24 hour period, result in outstanding clinical learning for our residents. Attending physicians are paired with residents on every shift, and frequent opportunities for bedside teaching abound. Our residents quickly grow confident performing all emergency medicine procedures, and are able to use EM ultrasound for real time diagnosis during every shift.
Our residents have tremendous resources available to them in the ED. PharmDs dedicated to the ED provide expertise with drug dosing and medication interactions. All medical records are electronic, and ACMC uses the PACS system for viewing current and past imaging studies. Residents have access to MDConsult, UpToDate and MicroMedex when searching for answers to clinical questions. The electronic medical record tracks every patient’s course through our ED, and serves as our computerized physician documentation platform.
Enhancing the clinical experience, our didactic lecture series occurs each Wednesday morning from 8:00 am until 12:30 pm. Our goal is to maximize interactivity and audience participation during these sessions. We emphasize case-based learning, and enjoy frequent, valuable inter-departmental conferencesand regular practical labs.
Our Simulation Lab opened in August 2008, and gives our residents the opportunity to practice high stakes, low-frequency cases, unusual procedures, and tests their clinical and team leadership skills. Every week, residents break out of conference in small groups to run through cases, and simulation is an active component of our mock oral boards.
Journal Clubs
Journal clubs are held every other month at a faculty member’s home. The spirited discussions are grounded in an EBM format, and cover a current controversial topic in Emergency Medicine. There is an emphasis on evidence based improvement in clinical practice. Synopses of recent Journal Clubs are posted on our website.
Mentoring
At ACMC each EM resident is paired with a faculty mentor. These mentor relationships provide career advice and facilitate preparation for life after residency. Each first year resident is also paired with a senior EM resident “buddy” who offers additional peer support and help navigating through residency.
Other Departmental Strengths
We are fortunate to have 3 board certified toxicologists on staff, enriching the education of our residents both in the ED and during conference. Many of our residents participate in clinical research during their training. Our department also has a research nurse, current involvement in multi-center trials, and a number of faculty ready to mentor resident projects through to national presentation and publication. ACMC is proud to have one of the longest continually running emergency ultrasound fellowships in the country. Founded in 1996, and under the leadership of Dr. Mike Lambert, 1-2 fellows each year add to the ultrasound training experience of our residents. The longevity of this fellowship means that a number of our fellowship graduates now run ultrasound programs across the country, and many of our ED faculty are either RDMS certified or ultrasound fellowship trained. Emergency Ultrasound is integrated into bedside teaching, didactics, and workshops throughout the year. EMS is another strength. ACMC is a POD (resource hospital in a disaster situation) as well as serving as Medical Control for 16 municipal and private ambulance companies. Our EMS Medical Director, Dr. Sean Motzny, is current chair of EMS Region VII, an area that includes urban, suburban, and rural prehospital care. The associated EMS Academy trains the most EMT/EMT-P students in the State of Illinois, and is an American Heart Association Community Training Center (CTC), Eight of our faculty are dual boarded in Emergency Medicine and pediatrics. Our residents work shifts in our 24/7 Pediatric Emergency Department every month they are scheduled in the ED. Advocate Children’s hospital supports all pediatric sub-specialties, and is a nationally known pediatric cardiology and cardiovascular center.
Resident Perks
Our recently renovated EM Resident Lounge contains four computer work stations and current EM textbooks. Critical Capacity Call provides an opportunity to work shifts for additional compensation while still under the supervision of an ED attending. Second year and third year residents have one week per year to attend a national conference. All residents receive 4 weeks of vacation per year, and $2200 over the three years to defray costs of conference travel and other educational expenses.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
We welcome diversity and believe that caring for patients from a wide variety of socioeconomic, racial and cultural backgrounds enriches our experience as physicians and as people. We also strive to be a department that fosters the careers of a diverse group of EM physicians.
Post Residency Employment
Our graduates work in both community and academic settings, in all areas of the United States. Fellowships are also increasingly popular, and in recent years our graduates have successfully competed for fellowships in Critical Care Medicine, Toxicology, Ultrasound, Pediatric EM, Sports Medicine and Palliative Care.
Due to the reputation and long history of our program, we have an outstanding network of alumni nationally. This helps our graduates obtain excellent positions in their desired geographic location.
Future
Our ED volumes continue to grow, and we currently care for over 100,000 patients annually. We have recently expanded our Pediatric ED, and continue to increase our ED physician staffing and improve the physical plant of the Emergency Department.
We are dedicated to providing the best possible care to all our patients. We believe that requires outstanding resident physicians working, learning and growing here with us.