Telluride ED Elective

[TrideMD]

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Hi everyone. We run a great elective in Telluride, Colorado for senior level Emergency Medicine residents. It generally runs for one month but in rare cases we can squeeze people in for two weeks. It is generally pretty competitive to get in but this year I have had someone cancel on our December slot. This is a great time to be in Telluride. We have the World Cup snowboarding event here, which you get to be a course side doctor on. Christmas is very busy with lots of orthopedic injuries and reductions. We do all our own sedations, reductions etc. as there is no specialty backup and it is one of the few EDs in the country where you can get first hand experience with altitude illness. There are also opportunities to work with ski patrol and/or search and rescue. Many residents have worked with one of our ER docs Peter Hackett who runs the Institute for Altitude Medicine onsite participating in research or working on case studies. Although this is not a total blow off elective (we do have work to do) there is plenty of time to ski and we usually have a season pass for residents to use (what a deal!). This is a great way to get some experience in an ED that is very different from the typical residency based ED with unique exposure to hands on ortho, altitude medicine, wilderness medicine, and rural medicine (nearest inpatient beds are 70 miles away) and it is a fun and refreshing month. Someone needs to take advantage of this. If you are interested or know someone who is contact me ASAP at [email protected] I am the Chief of Staff and residency coordinator here. Thanks

 

[Apollyon]

I have a general question, as I have been out for 6+ years, and am not a skier. Telluride is like Vail, Jackson Hole, and other places with snobby, rich people, and a lot of "out of towners" only there seasonally. Or is that not true? Is there a large entitlement culture, and demand for more attention than is possible (like, everyone wants 75%, when there isn't that much to go around)? That is an honest question, and that comes from someone that has dealt with upper-crust, rich, seemingly entitled people.

The balance, though, sounds out of this world!

 

[TrideMD]

To answer your question about the Telluride population: In general there may be some truth to what you say in the sense that we have many patients that are very well informed and educated and they expect excellence in their health care, restaraunts etc. There are some very wealthy, old money types that pass through here that have trouble applying a band-aid to themselves and I feel that we do need to do some concierge type medicine at times. I have had patients take their children on a private jet back to wherever they are from to have some high powered plastic surgeon put 2 sutures in a tiny chin lac. However for every person like that we see there are more self-motivated people that will do everything that needs to be done to get better than the whiner-types. We generally see a younger, healthier, acutely ill population that wants to get better. People forget that for every movie star that comes through a place like Telluride there are many more people turning sheets, waiting tables, building houses and ski patrolling. Your average waiter or home builder has at least a 4 year college education. It is nice to be able to have a conversation with a patient about the pros and cons of a CT scan for their abdominal pain, mild concussion etc and for them be able to participate in an informed decision. I work in some other EDs within a couple of hours from here with very different more "typical" populations and I find it refreshing sometimes to return to Telluride. Yes Telluride has been a nice "balance".

 

[Apollyon]

My best friend lives in Laramie, WY, and, at one visit, I ran into a woman who is from Jackson Hole, WY. She stated that the billionaires pushed out the millionaires, who pushed out the locals. I was thinking the same thing maybe would be there.

I was just wondering, though, because, well, as Glenn Frey put it, 27 years ago now (!):

They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.,
They hide it up in Telluride,
I mean it's here to stay.

Maybe it's an East coast thing, but the anti-vaccine nuts that I, anecdotally, have experienced have been, bar none, educated types. I never once have had an anti-vaccine nut be an uneducated redneck or illegal alien.

But, if the entitlement doesn't drive you nuts, then I say "good on ya"!

 

[TrideMD]

As fate would have it we have a spot that opened up in March. This is my favorite month both professionally and recreationally. If a third year ER resident wants a great elective this march let me know ASAP!

 

[Iride28]

Just out of curiosity (as I am not yet a resident, but hope to be soon and would be very interested in this elective in a couple years), is there any kind of housing provided for you and/or your husband/wife, or are you responsible for putting yourself up. Sounds like an awesome elective, I hope to be contacting you in the future!

 

[TrideMD]

We have always been able to set up pretty cheap housing, but you do have to foot the bill unfortunately. On the plus side we can get you a ski pass. Hope to hear from you in a few years - good luck.

 

[Texmed88]

I realize what forum this is but thought it was a good way to address you. Do you have any medical student rotations for fourth year students? Thanks!

 

[TrideMD]

Well, it's been a while since we needed to post, but we have another rare availability. If there is anyone who is a senior level resident that is interested in spending February 2019 in Telluride for an Emergency Department elective send me an email at the Hotmail address listed in the first post of this thread. Or call me at 970.318.1449 for more info. It is a great month.

 

[Tenk]

Will check with my program. We had one of our residents from my class go there and I texted him this and he said he would go back and play resident as a PGY-8. Great rotation!

 

[JAFERD]

If you have time in your schedule for this rotation, I’d highly recommend it! If you don’t, try and make the time! I did the rotation a few years ago and it was by far the best experience of residency. You’ll get tons of ortho (this rotation is where I finally learned what you’re supposed to feel on all of the knee tests), usually a couple sedations a day, plenty of acute mountain sickness (probably even a couple of cases of HAPE), and various other typical EM stuff sprinkled in. The majority of the patients are injuries from the mountain. Patient population is significantly better than anywhere else I’ve ever worked, with most being somewhat affluent, educated, and almost all friendly and appreciative. No nursing home patients and most of the elderly patients I saw were in better shape than me. Small group of docs (I believe only 4 of them) who are all very friendly and willing to teach. Nurses were also great. Actual hours for the rotation are very reasonable. If you were to write down everything you’d want in an ideal ED, it would be very close to Telluride. I really can’t think of a single negative thing to say about the rotation, other than the cost of being in telluride for a month is expensive. If you have moonlighting money, it would be very helpful!
And of course, you’re right at the base of Telluride mountain, about a 5 minute walk from the gondola. I skied more days than not and if you’re looking for lots of skiing / riding at one of the best resorts in the US, you’ll have plenty of time for it.
Dan - if you ever get an opening there, please let me know!



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[JAFERD]

Will check with my program. We had one of our residents from my class go there and I texted him this and he said he would go back and play resident as a PGY-8. Great rotation!

Yes, I would.


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[EMPertinent]

How does one apply for this elective? I’m a PGY-2, born and raised in Colorado, and would love to do something like this during my PGY-3 elective time. Thanks!