New Utah EM program approved!

[Utah EM Doc]

Hi SDNers -

I am really happy to tell you all that we have just been approved by the RRC to start a new emergency medicine residency program at the University of Utah next year. Here is a brief overview of the program:

It is a 1-2-3 program, and we are recruiting for 7 spots this year (to start in July of 2005). The program involves rotating at multiple hospitals in Salt Lake City, including the University of Utah (level 1 trauma), LDS hospital (level 1 trauma), Primary Children's Medical Center (level 1 trauma), and the VA Medical Center. There will be trauma rotations at both U. of Utah and LDS. Pediatric trauma experience will happen at Primary Children's Medical Center (pediatric hospital attached to the University). We have a very busy helicopter (and fixed wing) service at both the University and LDS, and flying will definitely be a part of the experience (although optional if you don't want to fly). We already have an active EM research fellowship at the University, a toxicology consult service, multiple EMS directors and disaster medicine specialists within the division, and an excellent Pediatric EM fellowship program is located at Primary Children's Medical Center.

We will be at the residency fair at ACEP in San Francisco on October 16, and invite all of you who will be there to stop by and meet us.

We have been approved too late to be able to participate in ERAS, but will be participating in the match (NRMP). Because we are not able to participate in ERAS this year, we will need to have any interested applicants send us their application materials directly. We will begin interviewing in November, and our application deadline is December 15. Here is a list of the documents we require for a completed application, and where to send them:

1. A copy of your completed ERAS application including your personal statement.
2. Three letters of recommendation. One letter (at a minimum) should be from an EM faculty at your medical school, or externship. Please have emergency medicine faculty fill out the standard CORD recommendation form (available at www.cordem.org)
3. Official Dean's Letter (forwarded by the medical school)
4. Medical school transcripts (forwarded by the medical school)
5. NRMP number
6. USMLE transcripts (all parts of USMLE completed)
7. Photo (optional but encouraged)
8. ECFMG status report (for international graduates only)

You can send (or have forwarded by your school) the required materials to:

Stephen Hartsell, MD
Residency Director
Division of Emergency Medicine
University of Utah Health Sciences Center
1150 Moran Building
175 North Medical Drive East
Salt Lake City, UT 84132

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us. We will have an updated website up and running soon, and I will post the web address here. In the meantime, our phone number is 801-581-2417. Or you can send your questions to us at: [email protected]

We are all very excited, and are looking for a few adventurous, trail blazing residents who are interested in the opportunity to join us in shaping the future of the West's newest emergency medicine residency.

I will try to answer general questions on this forum, but am only able to reliably check for new posts about once a day. If I don't reply back promptly and you really need the info, please use the contact information above.


Susan Stroud, MD
Associate Residency Director
University of Utah
This is the Place!

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[DrMom]

Will you be accepting COMLEX scores?

 

[j-snake]

That is exciting news. My question is how do you think that this new program will affect the job market/salaries of EPs living in Utah. In the EM publications I get it seems that they are almost never advertising for job openings in Utah. I wonder if that is because there are not a lot of EM jobs, or they are recruiting physicians through other ways. I am interested in this because whether or not I end up going to your program, I would probably like to practice in Utah someday. That means that in five years I would be competing for a job with the seven Utah graduates for my year, in addition to the jobs taken up in the previous two years of graduates from the program. I realize that it is impossible to predict the future, or know how many graduates will stay in Utah, but what do you think the job market and salaries will look like in Utah six years from now? Thanks for your response.

 

[Utah EM Doc]

Will you be accepting COMLEX scores?

Yes, we will accept COMLEX scores.

 

[DrMom]

Thanks. I'm very interested in your program...graduating in 2006.

 

[Utah EM Doc]

That is exciting news. My question is how do you think that this new program will affect the job market/salaries of EPs living in Utah. In the EM publications I get it seems that they are almost never advertising for job openings in Utah. I wonder if that is because there are not a lot of EM jobs, or they are recruiting physicians through other ways. I am interested in this because whether or not I end up going to your program, I would probably like to practice in Utah someday. That means that in five years I would be competing for a job with the seven Utah graduates for my year, in addition to the jobs taken up in the previous two years of graduates from the program. I realize that it is impossible to predict the future, or know how many graduates will stay in Utah, but what do you think the job market and salaries will look like in Utah six years from now? Thanks for your response.

I don't have a crystal ball about the future. However, I can tell you about my own experience. I moved to Utah last year from California (Bay area). I am an academic EM doc, and was only looking for an academic position, so did not approach other opportunities here. My salary here is much higher than my salary in the Bay area (also an academic job), and my cost of living has decreased significantly. Since I have moved here, I have seen multiple friends and colleagues from California and elsewhere successfully move here and get EM jobs. Almost none of these jobs have been advertised, and from my perspective, it seems that not many of the groups out here have to spend money on advertising because there is a constant stream of good applicants looking for a job in Utah. There is also a large number of EM docs who went to med school at the University of Utah, did an EM residency somewhere else, and then relocated back to Utah. In fact, 5 of our 15 full time faculty are graduates of the U. of Utah med school. This phenomenon is repeated at hospitals throughout the Wasatch front, and in places further south like Cedar City and St. George. The population on the Wasatch front is growing like crazy, and our hospital volume has gone up nearly 15% in the last year alone. Other local ED's are experiencing the same phenomenon.

I don't know what this will look like in six years, but part of the reason we are so excited about having a residency here is because we have a need for more EM trained docs working in the ED's throughout Utah. Many places that are not in the metropolitan SLC area (and even a few places that are right here) are staffed by docs trained in other specialties. We want to transform emergency care throughout our region so that patients throughout our service area receive their emergency care from docs who are trained in emergency medicine. Our service area is really broad, and includes parts of Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho and well as Utah. I think the opportunities will be there, and the population continues to grow. I am hoping that our graduates will choose to stay in the area, and take jobs within our affiliated hospitals and throughout our service area. This may make it more difficult for docs from other places to compete for Utah jobs, but I think Utah EM graduates will have an advantage because they will be local and known by the local EM groups (We have a monthly journal club and dinner that includes EM docs from many of the local Wasatch front hospitals, and all of the major local EM groups).

I don't know what will happen to salaries in the area, and because of my own interest in academics, don't even feel qualified to comment on this. There is only one academic opportunity for me here, so my salary opportunity is what it is.

Hope that helps,

Susan Stroud

 

[j-snake]

Thanks for your reply. Are you guys working on a website with program information (curriculum, staff, etc.)? If so, when do you think it will be ready?

 

[Utah EM Doc]

Thanks for your reply. Are you guys working on a website with program information (curriculum, staff, etc.)? If so, when do you think it will be ready?

Yes, we are working on a website with all of the pertinent info, and it is nearly finished. It will probably be up sometime within the next week, and I will post the address here.

Susan Stroud, MD
Associate Residency Director
University of Utah

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Congratulations Susan. It's been a long time coming. I graduated just before you got there and did a lot of work as a student to show support for a residency program.

I'm curious what plans are in place for ultrasound training and what arrangements have been made with the surgery residency for handling trauma. Also, will the Primary Peds fellows still be coming down to Arizona to do their adult EM rotations?

 

[Utah EM Doc]

Congratulations Susan. It's been a long time coming. I graduated just before you got there and did a lot of work as a student to show support for a residency program.

I'm curious what plans are in place for ultrasound training and what arrangements have been made with the surgery residency for handling trauma. Also, will the Primary Peds fellows still be coming down to Arizona to do their adult EM rotations?

We currently have two ultrasound machines in use in the emergency department at the University, and at least one machine in the LDS emergency department which is also used frequently. I was the ultrasound coordinator at my last institution, and have experience teaching ultrasound courses on the national level. We will have an active ultrasound program in our residency, and I expect all of our residents to become competent sonographers in emergency medicine applications during their residency.

The trauma experience will be split between the University and LDS. Currently, the rotation block will include a month of trauma / burn unit at the university as an intern. This intern carries the trauma pager, and responds to all trauma team activations while they are on duty. This is the same rotation that surgery interns do, and our interns will have the same responsibilities. In the PGY2 and 3 years, the residents will do a dedicated month of trauma at LDS. Currently the trauma team at LDS consists of the ED attending, a trauma attending, a surgical chief resident and a PA. The resident on the trauma service will act as the resuscitation team leader, and also perform procedures. The emergency medicine resident on duty in the ED will be responsible for airway management of all trauma patients. Once we have residents at the PGY2 and 3 level, emergency medicine residents on duty at the University ED will also take turns running trauma resuscitations in the University ED. The trauma services at both hospitals are actually quite excited about this arrangement. Because of work hour restrictions, the trauma attendings are currently having to take q3 call as acting trauma chief resident and they are looking forward to the help.

Although we do not yet have a formal arrangement in writing, all of our discussions with the Primary Children's faculty indicates that the Peds EM fellows will now be staying in Utah to do their adult EM experience.

Susan

 

[Andy Kahn]

We currently have two ultrasound machines in use in the emergency department at the University, and at least one machine in the LDS emergency department which is also used frequently. I was the ultrasound coordinator at my last institution, and have experience teaching ultrasound courses on the national level. We will have an active ultrasound program in our residency, and I expect all of our residents to become competent sonographers in emergency medicine applications during their residency. Susan

What type of u/s machines do you have? At Children's at Dallas, I believe we use the Titan by Sonosite. Trauma surg at Parkland uses the BK. The EM program has the one that is connected to the laptop (terason 2000) in the Parkland ED, but i'm hoping we will upgrade in the near future.

do you foresee an ultrasound fellowship in the near future (ie: something starting in 2007 maybe?)...

congrats on the new program. i drove through SLC while driving towards Sacramento on I-80 last year and it was pretty nice out there.

-andy

 

[Utah EM Doc]

What type of u/s machines do you have? At Children's at Dallas, I believe we use the Titan by Sonosite. Trauma surg at Parkland uses the BK. The EM program has the one that is connected to the laptop (terason 2000) in the Parkland ED, but i'm hoping we will upgrade in the near future.

do you foresee an ultrasound fellowship in the near future (ie: something starting in 2007 maybe?)...

congrats on the new program. i drove through SLC while driving towards Sacramento on I-80 last year and it was pretty nice out there.

-andy

We have a Sonosite 180Plus and a Medison Sonoace 6000. Both of them are connected to thermal image printers. At the moment, we are concentrating on making our residency program excellent, and that will take up most of our time for the next few years. After we have the residency working smoothly we will begin to expand our fellowships. We have already entertained the thought of starting an EMS and a tox fellowship, and an ultrasound fellowship is certainly a possibility, but all of those things will not occur for a few years while we concentrate on developing a quality residency program.

Susan Stroud, MD
Associate Residency Director
University of Utah
This is the Place!

 

[Utah EM Doc]

Our website is UP!

Check out the details of our new residency program at: www.uuhsc.utah.edu/emresidency

If you are going to be at the residency fair at ACEP on Saturday, come on by our booth and meet us in person!

Susan Stroud, MD
Associate Residency Director
University of Utah
This is the Place!

 

[j-snake]

So, I was looking at the website and I came up with a few questions.

What is the department policy on moonlighting?
Are there a certain number of procedures required by each resident to perform?
Any other benefits like parking, book stipend, membership dues to professional organizations?
Susan, do you really have polychromatic hair?

 

[sigep628]

I was also on the website and noticed that Utah has interviews that start on Monday. Just wondering if anyone has received an invitation for interview. I haven't heard anybody bragging about getting an interview yet. I was hoping to hear from them so I was just wondering.

 

[Utah EM Doc]

So, I was looking at the website and I came up with a few questions.

What is the department policy on moonlighting?
Are there a certain number of procedures required by each resident to perform?
Any other benefits like parking, book stipend, membership dues to professional organizations?
Susan, do you really have polychromatic hair?

j-snake -

I will try to answer your questions one at a time:

1. The official moonlighting policy is that we would like to discourage, but not forbid it (and have definite restrictions on moonlighting in an EM setting) so that you can concentrate on your residency training, but we also understand the cost of financing your medical education, family obligations, a season pass at Alta (just kidding about that one), etc... So, we allow moonlighting in the second and third years, and for no more than an average of four hours per week. Anyone who is not in academic good standing, or who are failing to perform their residency responsibilities will not be allowed to moonlight until those issues are resolved.

2. Number of Procedures: The RRC (residency review committee) for emergency medicine has a suggested number of different kinds of procedures (and resuscitations) that an EM resident should do during their training. When you apply to have (or keep) a residency, you have to document your ability to provide residents with an adequate number of all of these types of procedures. So, will we require a certain number of procedures? Yes, we will definitely require you to do a certain number of different procedures and resuscitations, and you must keep track of the procedures that you perform, and the RRC will also be keeping track of the number of procedures our residents perform. As it stands now, our residents should have no problem meeting and exceeding all of the suggested numbers of procedures looked at by the RRC. We expect (after collecting data on procedures performed in our various ED's and ICU's) that you will also do a large number of procedures that are not on the list of procedures and resuscitations that the RRC requires us to collect data on.

3. Other Benefits: Yes, we will be giving each resident one of the bibles of emergency medicine, and we are still trying to figure out which one (Tintinalli vs. Rosen vs. Harwood-Nuss) we want to use as our official text for the curriculum. They all have different strengths and weaknesses, and we all have our own preferences. Once we decide which one we are using, that will be the one we provide to each resident. The University also has a subscription to MD Consult, which you can access online and has Rosen's, Roberts and Hedges, and a number of other full texts available at all times.
Parking: Residents do get preferred parking at the medical center, but will have to pay for their tag. The current rate is $120 per year, which is divided up and deducted from your paycheck on a bimonthly basis ($5 per paycheck).
Membership dues: I am still working on getting the okay on this one. We have faculty who are members of ACEP, AAEM, and SAEM (and some who are members of all of these organizations). Trying to work out the details about which membership, how many memberships, letting residents pick the memberships, etc... Ask me more about this later as it is an ongoing discussion right now.

4. My Hair: Yes, I do have polychromatic hair. The top is usually blonde, but the rest of it varies. For the last year, it was usually red, or some form of red as it slowly fades out and then gets re-applied. However, I changed it to blue for the month of October. Our webmaster thought it was funny that he would see me about once a week, and could never tell what color it would be, so decided that my picture should try to reflect reality better than it did. Hence, the polychromatic hair.

Let me know if you have more questions,

Susan Stroud, MD
Associate Program Director
University of Utah

 

[Utah EM Doc]

I was also on the website and noticed that Utah has interviews that start on Monday. Just wondering if anyone has received an invitation for interview. I haven't heard anybody bragging about getting an interview yet. I was hoping to hear from them so I was just wondering.

Hi sigep628 -

We have our first round of interviews on Monday, and are interviewing our own students this week. I am slowly, yet diligently making my way through our pile of applications, and we are sending out invitations as I can get through them. I have found that many applications are not complete, and this is part of the disadvantage of not being a part of the ERAS system this year. So, many of the applications are missing important pieces, and I am having a lot of difficulty offering interviews if the only thing I have is a copy of an ERAS application without any supporting documentation (letters of recommendation, Dean's letter, transcripts, board scores). I even have a few files that contain Dean's letters and transcripts, but no ERAS application, and therefore I have no direct contact information for the applicant and can't tell them they are missing the most important part of the application. We are contacting Dean's offices to get contact information, but this is defintiely an arduous process.

If you are worried about not hearing from us yet, please send me a private message and I will look to see if we have a file, what is missing, etc... You can also call our program coordinator (Becky Bryce) on Monday at 801-581-2417 and ask her about your application.

That goes for anybody else out there who is wondering as well,

Susan Stroud, MD
Associate Program Director
University of Utah