Is it possible to work in a urban ED after being trained in a rural ED program? A couple of the places I interviewed at stated they were training EPs for rural settings. I enjoyed both programs and am interested in training at them but am concerned about not being able to work in urban centers after training. Will this make any difference when looking for jobs after residency?
Rural training to city job
- Thread starter chee
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Someone more experienced will hopefully chime in (Im an MSIV) but as I understand you should try to train nearest the setting you plan on working in. I would not train at a rural ED if your life goal is to work in a downtown innercity 4 million population city. Even if they do hire you, you might find yourself overwhelmed when you see a gun shot every hour versus the 3 you saw each hunting season in the rural ED. I certainly think anything is possible and lucky for us EM is still very understaffed nationwide so you can probably find the job you want regardless; just make sure your the one happy doing what your doing at wherever you are doing it...
If your unsure go to a moderate sized town/program with some innercity aspects combined with the rural folk who sometimes come in.
Good luck...
The RRC has standardized training across the board. Therefore, in my opinion, you will get adequate training at any accredited residency program to work in any typical ED setting.
Maybe you could follow-up with those places that made those claims and ask them to clarify. "We train people for rural settings?!?" - what the heck is that supposed to mean? They should be training EPs, simple as that.
No residency trained EP would ever get overwhelmed stabilizing a patient for transfer to the OR, which is basically what an EP does with any serious penetrating trauma. You learn those basics (ABCs, FAST exams, etc) at any RRC accredited program in fairly short order.
Also, it seems like a large percentage of EM programs have rural/suburban/small city settings anyways contrary to other residency fields.
If you had Level I trauma center training (which I would think all or most programs do (?), your options are open for a variety of settings.