Our PGY-1–PGY-4 format enables us to provide our residents with strong clinical training along with additional skills and knowledge that will serve as the foundation of a rich, multi-dimensional career. We commit curriculum time, the wealth of resources in our department, and strong mentorship to help residents develop areas of interest so that, as their careers evolve, they will have the option to balance clinical work with other rewarding activities.
The Program Director and eight Associate and Assistant Program Directors are dedicated to residency leadership, but our faculty members are actively involved in teaching, mentoring, and aiding resident career development in various capacities. The faculty include many members who are boarded in pediatric emergency medicine, toxicology or critical care. Others are fellowship-trained in medical education, EMS, health policy, informatics, research, neuroepidemiology, and medical ethics.
Conferences and Didactics
We hold formal conferences every Wednesday. Restructured work schedules enable our residents to attend these conferences, and we make every attempt to avoid residents having to work the preceding night as well.
Conference features include:
- An outstanding regular series of Grand Rounds speakers from across the country
- Joint conferences with neurologists, cardiologists, and surgeons to discuss areas of overlapping interest
- Monthly journal club
- Faculty lectures on core curricular topics
- Regular lectures on electrocardiography, radiology, research design/statistics, toxicology, disaster medicine, and wellness
- Case reviews
- Monthly simulation exercises
We conduct morning teaching rounds daily at each clinical site. During these, a resident presents a case with a discussion and faculty contributes extra teaching points. A third-year teaching resident is available on weekday afternoons to guide junior residents through difficult procedures and to supplement the bedside teaching provided by the attendings. Because they do not have clinical responsibilities, teaching residents also have time to investigate interesting clinical questions that arise during a shift.
Responsibilities as a Resident
Your responsibilities as a resident will progress over the course of our program. PGY-1s concentrate on the basics of caring for patients, whereas PGY-2s learn to care for the most critically ill patients. PGY-3s add teaching and trauma leadership to their roles, and start learning to manage an emergency department zone at the Mount Sinai Beth Israel site. The PGY-4s master the skills needed to manage a department through the Senior Role.
At the Mount Sinai Hospital and Elmhurst Hospital Center, fourth-year residents are responsible for running a zone of the Emergency Department during their clinical shifts. All other residents in that area present their patients to the senior, who oversees care of the patients and manages patient flow. The skills developed by seniors in this role will be crucial to them as attendings. After managing zones in the fast-paced EDs in which our residents train, our graduates are prepared to work in any setting.