Program Goals
- Provide excellent emergency care and comfort to the people of the greater Austin region, with a special mission to care for the injured, indigent and vulnerable.
- Train physicians to be prepared, competent and excellent in assuming independent, responsible roles in the clinical practice of emergency medicine.
- Expose residents to the broad options in careers within emergency medicine, including clinical practice, research, teaching, administration and advocacy, and to promote leadership in the field of emergency medicine across all areas of practice.
Curriculum Components
Didactics
The program’s classroom curriculum features weekly didactics that meld current clinical practice and evidence-based medicine.
Small Group Learning
Every resident class receives its own curriculum tailor-made for each level of training. PGY-1 focuses on the “Approach to” lectures, as well as emergency department ultrasonography. PGY-2 concentrates on research skills and critical care topics. And PGY-3 includes time to learn about emergency department administration and career planning. This curriculum is supplemented by simulation, skills labs, problem-based learning, standardized patients, a cadaver lab and more.
Block Curriculum
The vast majority of clinical rotations (26 months) are in the emergency department, including in PGY-1. Pediatric and community emergency department shifts are integrated into PGY-2 and PGY-3. These are supplemented by time in the ICUs and some select rotations, including subspecialties like toxicology, EMS, emergency department administration and ultrasound. The program’s block schedule is based on 13 four-week rotations per academic year.
PGY-1
- 5 Blocks: Emergency medicine | Dell Seton Medical Center
- 2 Blocks: Emergency medicine (pediatric) | Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas
- 1 Block: Emergency medicine (community) | Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin
- 1 Block: Medical intensive care
- 1 Block: Ultrasound
- 1 Block: Anesthesia (with one week of pediatric anesthesia)
- 1 Block: Labor and delivery | Ascension Seton Medical Center
- 1 Block: Trauma and acute care surgery
PGY-2
- 8 Blocks: Emergency medicine | Dell Seton Medical Center | Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin | Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas
- 1 Block: Pediatric Intensive Care
- 1 Block: Surgical intensive care
- 1 Block: Emergency department ultrasound
- 1 Block: EMS
- 1 Block: Elective
- 1 Block: Toxicology
PGY-3
- 9 Blocks: Emergency medicine | Dell Seton Medical Center | Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin | Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas
- 1 Block: Rural emergency medicine | Ascension Seton Highland Lakes
- 1 Block: Multidisciplinary intensive care | Ascension Seton Williamson
- 1 Block: Emergency department administration
- 1 Block: Elective
Totals
- 26 Blocks: Emergency medicine
- 5 Blocks: Pediatrics
- 4 Blocks: Critical care
- 2 Blocks: Elective