Internal Medicine Residency Curriculum - Emergency Department

Training in the Emergency Department

Our Cambridge Hospital campus has a busy emergency department with over 30,000 visits annually, or 80 visits/day. Under the direct supervision of ED attending physicians, residents diagnose, treat, and care for men and women from adolescence to old age with acute, sub-acute, and chronic medical, surgical, orthopedic, and ob/gyn problems. House officers have first-hand, first-contact experience with undifferentiated, unselected health problems, including life-threatening emergencies. The ED rotation also offers important opportunities for internal medicine residents to develop greater understanding of the hospital system.

The curriculum in the ED is case-based and hands-on. The supervising attending provides direct bedside teaching on all patients. He or she guides residents in performing interventional procedures and running codes and leads conversations to debrief every code.

Residents rotate through the emergency department in the PGY1, PGY2, and PGY3 year. Like other ED staff, house officers work shifts. All residents have three day shifts in ED and during the remaining week have two night shifts in the ICU to relieve the night float team.