Inpatient US Clinical Experience in Emergency Medicine in Austin

Information about this clinical experience:

This rotation will be under the supervision of a board-certified emergency medicine physician. Time will be spent with this preceptor and three other colleagues, all of whom are emergency medicine-trained physicians. Although the hospital where you will rotate does not have a residency program, the physician group has a background in teaching, as their members have served as educators in an emergency medicine residency program at another hospital.

In a typical 24-hour period, approximately 30 patients are seen in this emergency department (ED) with a range of acute complaints. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to see a patient with an undifferentiated problem and be on the front lines with a team to work it up. Rotators will learn how to assess patients and formulate patient care plans. Opportunities to observe procedures will also be available.

Prior to the clinical experience, we recommend that you review the following modules so that you can develop an approach to common presenting symptoms and conditions in the ED:

• Abdominal pain

• Chest pain

• Altered mental status

• Shortness of breath

• Headache

• GI bleed

• Sepsis

• Trauma

• Poisonings

In advance of the rotation, the EM preceptors have recommended that rotators become familiar with the following:

• EMcrit

• ALiEM

• EMbasic 

An important objective of this clinical experience is to refine your skills in presenting patients. Please note that the expectations of the emergency medicine presentation are different than what you may been accustomed to in other specialties. As every patient in the ED must be assumed to have a potentially life-threatening condition until proven otherwise, it is essential to include content addressing these conditions in your case presentations. We highly recommend that you read the following article as it will educate you on the preferred method for presenting patients.

The 3-Minute Emergency Medicine Medical Student Presentation

Please also refer to the following article we wrote on how to impress during your EM clinical experience:

How to Succeed in the Emergency Medicine Rotation: Tips for Medical Students

During your experience, you will learn the following U.S. medical practices under the preceptor’s supervision:

• Taking patient histories.

• Performing physical exams under the physician's supervision.

• Presenting patients.

• Researching the literature to answer clinical questions at the point of care.

• Spending time with other healthcare professionals in the office to understand their roles and responsibilities.