Expectations & Curriculum
Our three-year residency curriculum – Model for Clinical Practice – is divided into 39 blocks (each four weeks long), with many exciting and unique rotations. We offer procedure and hand labs. A conference series supplements these clinical rotations and labs which includes:
- Emergency Medicine
- Journal clubs
- Grand Rounds
- Interactive small group discussions
- Simulation sessions
This results in well-rounded, knowledgeable, and clinically adept graduates that can practice emergency medicine in any clinical environment and are highly recruited from emergency medicine physician groups around the country.
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First Year
The first year (PGY-1) begins with a two-week orientation that includes these topics:
- Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support
- Pediatric Advanced Life Support
- Advanced Trauma Life Support
- Epic training
- Orientation to each rotation
- Introduction to key faculty experts for each section of emergency medicine.
Each of the blocks—at the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital Emergency Department, Parkland Memorial Hospital Emergency Department, Children’s Medical Center Dallas Emergency Department, critical care rotations, and other off-service experiences—are carefully designed to provide important clinical background pertinent to the practice of emergency medicine. They include rotations in more traditional critical care medicine in the North Texas VA Medical ICU and unique experiences like working alongside our burn surgeons in the Parkland Burn ICU.
Additionally, we have intern-focused didactics such as a graduated orientation at the beginning of each Emergency Medicine block, a monthly conference series, and hands-on workshops that target foundational skills in emergency medicine.
In the Parkland ED, each intern is paired with an upper-level resident and an Emergency Medicine attending who provide close supervision, guidance, and clinical teaching. Interns work approximately 18-20 11-hour shifts each block during the PGY-1 year.
First Year Curriculum
Service Length Parkland EM 4 blocks Children’s Medical Center Dallas Pediatric EM 2 blocks Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center Medical Intensive Care Unit 1 block Parkland Medical Toxicology ½ block William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital EM ½ block Parkland Trauma 1 block Parkland Labor and Delivery ½ block Parkland Obstetrics and Gynecology ½ block Parkland Adult Anesthesia ¾ block Children's Medical Center Dallas Pediatric Anesthesia ¼ block Clinical Ultrasound/Radiology Imaging 1 block Parkland Burn ICU ½ block Parkland Neuro-Critical Care ICU ½ block -
Second Year
The second year (PGY-2) residents have a significant increase in autonomy and responsibility in the Parkland ED under the supervision and guidance of Emergency Medicine attendings. The clinical environment includes a large volume of underserved patients, providing an unparalleled opportunity to further develop the clinical skills required to practice emergency medicine.
The pediatric emergency medicine curriculum continues for second-year residents via a longitudinal experience with shifts scheduled at the Children’s Medical Center Dallas ED during every Emergency Medicine block. Second-year residents also rotate in a variety of critical care settings both adult and pediatric, medical and surgical. One of the highlights is the rotation at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, a busy level 2-trauma center with over 100,000 visits a year. While there, the residents serve as trauma and procedure doctors for the ED.
The second-year experience rounds off with a selective rotation and EMS experience. For selective, residents design their own two-week block based on their interest. For EMS, residents receive special training in pre-hospital care and have multiple opportunities to do online medical direction and handle transfer calls from community emergency physicians.
PGY-2 residents serve an average of 17-19 shifts each block in the Parkland ED. Each shift is 10 hours, which includes two hours of resident overlap.
Second Year Curriculum
Service Length Parkland EM 6 ½ blocks Children’s Medical Center Dallas Pediatric EM Longitudinal Clements University Hospital EM 1 block Medical Toxicology ½ block Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth EM 1 block Children’s Medical Center Dallas Pediatric ICU ½ block Parkland Neonatal ICU ½ block Parkland MICU 1 block Plastics/Hand ED Consults ½ block Parkland Surgical ICU ½ block Clements Univeristy Hospital Cardiovascular ICU ½ block Selective ½ block -
Third Year
During their third year (PGY-3), residents refine their skills. They assume greater administrative responsibility for the emergency department, including patient flow and autonomous patient care. They become resident leaders within the Parkland Hospital & Health System, representing the Emergency Medicine Residency Program before departmental leaders and setting precedent among subsequent resident classes.
Extending the trend from the PGY-2 year, the longitudinal experience continues in pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. Longitudinal shifts at Clements University Hospital diversify the wealth of emergency medical management and care.
Five community rotation sites around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex supplement the community emergency medicine experience at Parkland. These varied experiences in different emergency departments prepare our graduates for the subtle nuances of any clinical environment. Community emergency medicine shifts are combined with Parkland emergency medicine shifts.
Senior residents are required to complete a scholarly activity and performance improvement project by the culmination of their training. Each resident also completes a four-week teaching rotation, during which the resident educates current residents as well as medical students rotating through the ED. The teaching rotation includes a mix of didactics, simulation, and teaching shifts mixed with clinical shifts throughout this block.
Third-year residents work an average of 15-17 shifts each Parkland ED block. Like the PGY-2s, each shift is 10 hours long with two hours of overlap.
PGY-3 residents have eight weeks of elective time, during which they may pursue their choice of academic interests. The most popular elective each year is a paid employment position with one of our partnering hospitals in New Zealand. Further, UT Southwestern has over 180 training programs that welcome emergency medicine resident rotations.
Third Year Curriculum
Service Length Parkland EM 7 blocks Children’s Medical Center Dallas Pediatric EM Longitudinal Clements University Hospital EM Longitudinal Parkland Teaching 1 block Elective 2 blocks Presbyterian Healthcare EM 1 block Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Ft. Worth EM 1 block Methodist Dallas Medical Center EM 1 block