Clinical Curriculum

EM2 Overview

The primary goal of the EM2 year is to begin layering the technical skills and theoretical knowledge of emergency medicine for your emergency medicine career. This is accomplished as the resident performs primary individual patient care in the emergency department setting. At Denver Health Medical Center, EM2 residents primarily run the telemetry side of the department, managing a diverse number of medical, surgical, pediatric, and OB/GYN complaints, including chest pain, dyspnea, diabetic reactions, sepsis, abdominal pain and pediatric medical emergencies. At the University of Colorado, this role is expanded to include primary management of trauma patients and patients in need of major resuscitation. In addition, private emergency department experiences are likewise scheduled to develop the resident’s knowledge base. Finally, a handful of off-service rotations, including Emergency Orthopedic Consultation, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Surgical Intensive Care further seek to broaden the resident's experiences. The specific schedule for the EM2 year is as follows:

EM2 Schedule

Rotation Descriptions

Emergency Medicine – Denver Health There is responsibility for individual patient care of all categories of patients seen in the department, with an emphasis placed on medically ill adult and pediatric patients. Senior Emergency Medicine resident and attending staff physicians are always available to the junior residents for consultation and supervision.

Emergency Medicine – University The resident manages a broad spectrum of patients, including medically ill and critical trauma patients at this tertiary care medical referral center.

Emergency Medicine – St Joseph A large private emergency department is the setting for both the Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital and Kaiser emergency medicine experiences. The resident will care for HMO and non-HMO patients. The resident will be exposed to a patient population similar to those found in the majority of emergency department private practices. An emphasis is placed on teaching the administrative necessities of managing a private emergency department, the emergency case management (ECM) of HMO patients, outcome-based emergency medicine research, ultrasonography in the emergency department, and the utilization of Physician Assistants as physician extenders.

Pediatric EM - Denver Emergency Center for Children (DECC)  This pediatric emergency department at Denver Health opened in 2008.  It is a 24 hour facility that includes 19 rooms and 2 resuscitation rooms.  All resuscitations and major procedures are preformed by the senior emergency resident.

Pediatric EM - The Children's Hospital Emergency Department This is a high volume pediatric emergency department in which the resident directs resuscitations and gains experience in managing acutely ill children and children with exacerbations of chronic illnesses.

Emergency Orthopedic Consults As a regional trauma center with a renowned orthopedic surgery staff, Denver Health receives critical patients in transfer from the entire Rocky Mountain Region. On the orthopedic surgery service, the EM2 resident functions in the capacity of consult resident, building a knowledge base in the management of acute orthopedic trauma, including performing reductions, splinting and casting.

Surgical ICU at DHMC During this rotation, the emergency medicine resident rotates on the surgical service at DHMC caring for the patients in the SICU. This busy service provides the opportunity for the resident to gain expertise in the management of seriously and critically ill patients. This is an invaluable experience, especially in the area of trauma care. In addition, numerous opportunities for procedures are provided. Supervision and teaching are provided by the surgical attendings at Denver Health Medical Center and directed by Dr. E.E. Moore, one of the most highly regarded trauma surgeons in the world.

Emergency Ultrasound During these two weeks residents gain skills and understanding of fundamental ultrasounds examinations which they will be using throughout their residency/carreer.  A formal curriculum (didactics on most common applications) is combined with scanning shifts in the ED with Ultrasounds attendings and fellows.

CME / Reading Residents are provided one week in each of their upper level years for independent reading. The only clinical obligation during this week is covering sick call for their respective EM class.