How would you describe the culture of your residency?
Penn Emergency Medicine Residency aims to train clinically outstanding physicians and provide the structure and mentorship to create future leaders in emergency medicine. Our clinical curriculum is deliberately designed to capitalize on our unique training sites, diverse patient populations, and nationally recognized EM faculty, preparing our residents to practice in both academic and community settings. Similarly, our modular based didactic curriculum is geared to the adult learner and challenges residents to be engaged in their learning with an added focus on developing leadership skills. Our program serves a diverse community including a large proportion of underserved patients as well as those with advanced disease processes seeking care within our institution. It is our goal to provide training to residents on the social and economic topics that are key to understanding the role of Emergency Medicine in addressing health disparities at a structural level. We have created a Social Emergency Medicine curriculum that will explore various topics pertaining to health disparities, understanding social determinants of health, and addressing social needs. Our mission aligns with that of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and specifically the core values at our institution: excellence, integrity, diversity, professionalism, individual opportunity, teamwork and collaboration.
Program Aims:
1. Produce clinically outstanding physicians equipped with the skills to be future leaders in Emergency Medicine, capable to respond to the needs of the community they will serve 2. Advance the care of patients through innovation in clinical care models, quality improvement, patient safety, and education 3. Foster peer, interdisciplinary, and inter-departmental collegiality 4. Recruit and support a diverse workforce and optimize care to address health disparities, tailored to the community we serve.
How has your program supported resident wellness?
Resident wellness is prioritized by individual and system level support. Individual wellness is monitored and supported through the individualized learning plans with faculty coaches. Peer based and faculty mentorship is prioritized to support personal and professional goals. System level support includes prioritized time off in the clinical rotation schedule, as well as circadian shift schedules. Funds are dedicated to an annual residency retreat as well as periodic class dinners to promote bonding. Lastly, if a critical need is identified, funds are used to address those needs (i.e. during the pandemic when public transportation was limited, ride share options were supported).
How has your program supported diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) either at your institution or in the surrounding community?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are key priorities for our residency and department. Program leadership, application selection committee, and interviewers have all undergone unconscious bias training and are committed to reviewing applications in a holistic manner. As part of diversity recruitment efforts in our program we offer a funded scholarship for applicants who identify as under-represented in medicine to rotate in our department. Mentorship for our URM residents is critical. In coordination with institutionally supported Alliance for Minority Physicians for medical students, trainees, and faculty we have offered additional mentorship, resources and collaboration for our URM trainees in EM. Support for our URM residents also includes promoting environment of inclusivity. In 2020 our department initiated antiracism taskforce including representation across the department. Multiple initiatives have been piloted to improve the clinical learning environment for our trainees and our patient population. We have a Vice Chair for DEI who leads efforts in integrating equity work in Research, Clinical Care, and Education.
What are unique features of your program that you would like to highlight?
As a four year program we have abundant elective time and faculty mentorship to help you create your niche in emergency medicine. Our patient population is extremely diverse and offers a mix of acuity across the various sites. Located in West Philadelphia we have multiple program sites, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Urban Accademmic), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (Urban Trauma) and HUP Cedar (Urban Low Income Community), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Pediatrics), Pennsylvania Hospital (Urban Community).
Is there any advice that you would like to share with the LMSA community?
Use every opportunity you have to engage with residents in programs, you'll get a better sense of the learning environment, how residents are supported, and the overall collegiality.
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