Elective Opportunities

Elective Opportunities:

• Global Medicine
• Critical Care
• Advanced Airway Management
• Advanced Ultrasound
• Resident as Educator
• Sports Medicine
• Radiology
• Emergency Department and Hospital Management
• Research
• Infectious Disease
• EM Community Hospital
• Community Service

For residents with a career interest in a particular area, pertinent electives can be coupled with the resident's scholarly project to create individually focused "mini fellowships" in that area.

Global Emergency Medicine

The Department of Emergency Medicine has a strong commitment to expanding emergency care for the sick and wounded globally. Our global emergency medicine (GEM) program operates under the mission of capacity and resilience building and responding to international crisis. Our medical students, residents, and fellows can increase their global emergency medicine knowledge and experience while at CMC in multiple areas, including; international electives, global academic partnerships and research, and global emergency medicine education programs. These global emergency medicine programs are the global health interest group, intensive course in global health, global emergency medicine residency track, and the global pediatric emergency medicine fellowship track.

Critical Care

The Critical Care elective allows residents to further their education in a variety of critical care topics in the Medical or Cardiac ICU. Residents can choose to focus on a variety of topics such as procedures, airway skills, bedside ultrasonography and/or teaching other residents (including taking on a junior attending role). This elective allows for great flexibility in accommodating the specific educational goals of the resident.

Advanced Airway Management

The Advanced Airway Management Elective will provide additional training to residents and fellows who have an interest in the management of the difficult airway. PGY-3 Emergency Medicine residents and fellows in critical care and emergency medicine are eligible to participate.

Radiology

Residents will meet with the course director 4-6 weeks prior to the rotation to be oriented to the department and its resources. Residents should spend time studying the teaching computer program Radiographic Anatomy and looking through a basic radiology text. These are available in the Radiology Education Center. We also recommend residents spend at least seven half days observing radiologists and reading about topics seen or discussed. It is suggested that residents spend most of their time in the general radiology reading area and observing fluoroscopy studies. At least one block of time is also recommended in neuroradiology, body imaging and musculoskeletal radiology. Residents should observe any procedures that may occur during those times.

Emergency Department and Hospital Management

The Emergency Department (ED) and Hospital Management elective exposes residents to the administrative aspect of emergency medicine. Residents will understand the value of appropriate meeting structure, experience integration of the ED with hospital administration and learn how integrated care impacts a complex hospital system. Residents will also begin to understand the financial and back-end processes for ED billing, and participate in patient satisfaction initiatives. This elective allows residents to discover what is required to roll out a project in the ED, derive a project of interest and carry it to completion and develop an understanding of the complex issues surrounding important patient care issues in emergency medicine such as ED overcrowding. Residents will develop an understanding of techniques to address typical patient care related administrative matters such as care complaints, medical errors and sentinel events, as well as develop a personal program of learning related to ED and hospital administration based on identified knowledge gaps. The ED and Hospital Management elective will also help residents develop methods of analyzing and interpreting important ED metrics as well as skills in the use of evidence from scientific studies to facilitate understanding of ED and hospital administration. Residents will use information technology such as the EMR and IT support in medical decision-making.

Infectious Disease

The Infectious Disease elective covers the basics of infectious diseases, antibiotics and laboratory usage. We recommend residents set goals to identify areas of improvement in their ID knowledge base and share that list with their attendings. Residents will be responsible for reading during this rotation to supplement what is learned on rounds. Residents will also be responsible for most of the new consults – we expect residents should be able to complete at least three consults in a full (non-clinic) weekday plus some follow-up visit of known patients. Residents should keep attending informed of the current number of pending consults and of any urgent consults. Work hours are Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., or until rounds are finished.

Community ED

The Community ED elective allows residents to manage, under the supervision of board-certified or board-prepared emergency physicians, patient presentations including major medical/surgical life-threatening diseases in the community emergency department setting. Residents will develop criteria for hospitalization versus outpatient therapy of patients with non-life threatening diseases. Residents will also develop criteria for transfer of patients to facilities with a higher-level of care, hone technical skills required in management of life-threatening diseases and hone radiographic interpretation skills. This Community ED helps residents understand how to integrate components of the ACGME-defined Core Competencies into their practice of emergency medicine, including: patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice.

Community Service

The Community Service elective allows residents to care for the medical needs of underserved patients in the Charlotte area and develop an increased awareness of the services offered for the underserved patients in Charlotte. Residents will gain an understanding of how to organize and run a non-profit organization, as well as how non-profit organizations are funded, and what types of funding are available. Residents will also gain experience in various clinics in Charlotte in order to organize opportunities for other CMC residents to volunteer and serve. The Community Service elective allows residents to practice Spanish speaking skills in bilingual clinics and to continue serving in various ways throughout the year.