Scholastic accomplishment in Emergency Medicine is not simply a matter of achieving superb clinical acumen, but rather requires a rich knowledge of the underlying principles of scholarly inquiry.
To that end, residents in our program dedicate a portion of their training to understanding the guiding tenets and methodologies of quality improvement and research in emergency medicine, culminating in the completion of a quality improvement project and/or scholarly work. Residents also benefit from our rotating research education curriculum covering high-yield topics, including how to conduct a literature review, research study design, data analysis, confounding, and understanding biases. These skills are put into practice during Journal Club conferences throughout the year that serve to develop and hone our trainees’ ability to critically appraising emergency medicine literature.
Residents are matched with a faculty mentor shortly after arriving at UW as an intern. In the fall of their PGY-1 year, residents meet with both the Assistant Director of Quality and their faculty mentor to discuss expectations for both quality improvement and scholarly projects. Based on the resident’s personal interests, the resident is also matched with members of the Research Executive Committee who help each trainee to complete their scholarly goals. During their first year, residents submit a timeline for completion of these projects and are expected to begin the projects during their second year. Completion of the projects is expected early in their third year and presentation of study findings occurs in the spring prior to graduation.
Residents have the opportunity to and are thoroughly supported in presenting their research findings at regional and national conferences (eg – SAEM Annual Meeting, SAEM Midwest Regional Meeting, ACEP Scientific Assembly, etc). We’re proud that our program has a strong record of residents having their abstract submissions accepted by these conferences.
Learn more about the UW Emergency Medicine Residency Program »