Curriculum

In addition to time spent learning the core principles of emergency care in the ED, the curriculum is designed to include focused training in pediatrics, critical care, and trauma management. The training is structured to allow a progressively independent experience through the course of training, preparing residents exceptionally well for competent, confident, compassionate, and efficient patient care.

Critical Care

Residents spend five months training in various critical care venues:

• First year residents rotate in MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s Coronary Care Unit (CCU) for one month.
• Second year residents rotate through the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Inova Fairfax Hospital, the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, and the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Second year residents also rotate for one month at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore as part of their trauma curriculum, which includes time spent in the Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

Trauma

MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s trauma unit is the busiest level I trauma center in D.C., with 24 hour in-house coverage by attending trauma surgeons. As the regional burn center, the trauma center sees a high volume of burn victims. The trauma unit provides residents with extensive and progressively independent experience in treating trauma patients.

First-year residents serve four weeks as a team member.

• First-year residents rotate fro one month as an integral member of MedSTAR trauma team.
• Second-year residents rotate for one month at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore to gain additional experience as well as a diverse vantage point on trauma care.
• Third-year residents are assigned designated shifts in the MedSTAR trauma bay during each ED month, where they alternate roles as trauma team leader and trauma procedure leader with each successive trauma.  They also respond to all trauma codes during normal ED shifts at MedStar Washington Hospital Center to provide traumatic airway management.

Pediatrics

Pediatrics is an essential component of emergency medicine training. The clinical schedule incorporates pediatric training in a variety of settings to create a diverse and comprehensive experience which ensures continuous access to seasonal variations in illness. Current pediatric experience includes:

• one-month rotations during the PGY1 and PGY3 years in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, a community hospital in Montgomery County, Maryland which is staffed by physicians with subspecialty training and certification in pediatric emergency medicine.
• clinical shifts during the PGY1 and PGY2 years in the Children's National Medical Center Emergency Department which occur during ED months at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, allowing for a continuous pediatric emergency medicine experience with exposure to seasonal variations in pediatric illness. Children's National Medical Center is immediately adjacent to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, sharing the same larger medical campus.
• one-month rotation as a PGY2  in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital  providing experience with very ill children and the procedures involved in their care.
• one-month rotation as a PGY3 at Inova Fairfax Hospital’s busy Pediatric Emergency Department.
• rotations at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s Emergency Department, during all three year of training, where approximately 15 percent of their annual census is children.