Frequently Asked Questions
- Why train at UT Southwestern?
- What is unique about the Emergency Medicine Division at UT Southwestern?
- What are the emergency departments like at Parkland Hospital and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas?
- What type of resident does well at UT Southwestern?
- How much time in the residency is devoted to Emergency Medicine?
- How many hospitals are involved in educating Parkland Hospital EM Residents?
- What are the specific roles of the different classes of residents in the emergency department?
- What is the emergency department shift structure for residents at Parkland?
- How is the pediatric training experience structured?
- What kind of attending coverage is scheduled at Parkland?
- Are pre-hospital training opportunities available at Parkland/UT Southwestern?
- What formal didactics are offered?
- What teaching opportunities are available for residents?
- What research opportunities are available?
- Do the residents get to evaluate the faculty and rotations?
- Are there emergency medicine fellowships available at UT Southwestern?
- What are the Compensation and Benefits?
- What is it like Living in Dallas?
- Is ultrasound used in the ED?
- What about socializing outside the ED?
- What are the Off-Service Rotations and Call Schedules?
- Did we forget something?
1. Why train at UT Southwestern?
- The Emergency Departments: Our broad base of training is founded in the Parkland and Children’s Hospital Emergency Departments, which together triage over 240,000 adults and children annually. The 2 EDs are physically connected.
- Acuity: Over 1 of every 4 patients treated in the Parkland ED is admitted. Similarly, the acuity of patient care in the Children’s ED is very high. EM residents perform resuscitations every shift.
- Pediatric EM: 10 Pediatric EM board certified faculty as well as many of the adult EM faculty supervise all EM resident patient care in one of the busiest Children’s EDs in the country which is also the only Level 1 pediatric trauma center in Texas. Residents have an unusually strong opportunity to perform resuscitations, procedures, procedural sedations, etc.
- Toxicology: 9 board-certified or board-prepared Toxicology faculty supervise the busy Toxicology service, including the very popular Toxicology rotation for EM residents.
- EMS/Disaster Medicine: 9 EM faculty have special interest in this exciting area of Emergency Medicine, and provide lectures, training, etc. Opportunities in ground and air transport are available. Residents can teach in the nationally accredited EMS education programs. Residents also participate in disaster response efforts locally. During Hurricane Katrina, residents helped treat the more than 8000 patients seen in the Emergency Medicine supervised medical unit at the Dallas Convention Center. The Division has over a million dollars in grants to provide training in disaster education through the National Disaster Life Support Program.
- Grants / Research: Emergency Medicine faculty are principal investigators on nearly $17 million in grants, including 2 NIH centers. One focuses on resuscitation research and the other on burn research.
- Fellowships: There are fellowship opportunities in Toxicology, Government Emergency Medical Services and Security, Practice Management and Health Care Policy and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and both Ultrasound and Critical Care fellowship tracks are under development
- Event Medicine: There are multiple opportunities for residents to participate in event medicine, including providing emergency medicine support for the Dallas Cowboys, Mavericks, and Stars, concert venues, and the Texas Motor Speedway.
- Electives: There are a number of scheduled elective blocks, including an expense-paid two month away rotation in international medicine in New Zealand in the EM3 year.
2. What is unique about the Emergency Medicine Division at UT Southwestern?
UTSW/Parkland has become home to many national leaders of Emergency Medicine, specifically in the areas of resuscitation, disaster medicine, toxicology, governmental/tactical medicine, pediatric Emergency medicine and organized medicine. When combined with our patient volume and high acuity, we feel this provides a unique training environment for the EM resident. We also offer a number of fellowships, including Toxicology, EMS, Government Emergency Medicine Security Services (GEMSS), Practice Management and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and these fellows further enrich the training experience. Like many programs, we have great access to supporting high-profile EMS events (professional sporting venues, etc), as well as both ground and aeromedical opportunities. However, as PGY-3 residents, we also assume independent medical command of all EMS call-ins and function as the interface for all hospital-to-hospital transfers. We have a two month international medicine elective in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, a small community hospital on the Pacific Side of the North Island. Funding for airfare, housing, and transportation are provided to partake in this rotation in the “Wine Country” of New Zealand. Finally, moonlighting opportunities abound for fully-licensed senior residents in the #1 US City for the Emergency Physician job market.
Both Emergency Departments are two of the highest-volume emergency treatment facilities in the country. Each triages over 90,000 patients annually. By triaging minor and low risk complaints to clinics in the facility, the EDs oversee a large volume of high-acuity patients resulting in an excellent educational experience for our residents. Parkland's emergency department encompasses more than 37,000 square feet containing 79 bed spaces, including 24 fully monitored critical care beds. Parkland is a Level I Trauma center and Burn Center. Children’s Medical Center in Dallas is a pediatric tertiary care referral center and the only designated Level I pediatric trauma center in the Southwest. These state-of-the-art facilities are dynamic emergency centers that provide our residents with a patient-driven learning experience and a clinical practice that is unparalleled.
4. What type of resident does well at UT Southwestern?
UT Southwestern prides itself on the diverse nature of our residents and staff. Our residents enjoy the challenge of a busy shift and take personal satisfaction in serving a diverse patient population. Those who are self-motivated can progress in their learning quickly, while those needing supervision will find the faculty readily available and always willing to guide.
5. How much time in the residency is devoted to Emergency Medicine?
Each year the residents rotate through thirteen four-week blocks. Of those, three are in the ED at Parkland and two are in the Children's ED in the first year, nine in the second year, and eight in the third year. During the second and third year, 2-3 shifts per ED block are in the Children's ED. The differences are comprised of “off-service” rotations that have been specifically selected for their contribution to a resident’s overall emergency medicine practice. Furthermore, with the weekly didactics and monthly residency conferences, you will always be learning Emergency Medicine.
6. How many hospitals are involved in educating Parkland Hospital EM Residents?
The majority of the 4-week rotations are on the UT Southwestern Medical Center campus (33 of 39 blocks at Parkland and/or Children’s Medical Center). Of the remaining blocks:
- 1 first year critical care rotation is at the Dallas VA Hospital (12 miles from UTSW);
- 1 second year and 1 third year community hospital EM rotation is done at Baylor University Medical Center (4.5 miles from UTSW);
- 1 third year community EM rotation is done at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital (11 miles from UTSW), and one is done at Methodist Hospital (4.5 miles from UTSW);
- Elective months can be done almost anywhere, including New Zealand.
7. What are the specific roles of the different classes of residents in the emergency department?
Interns generally join an upper-level resident on one of four teams staffing the department. However, a resident typically will work directly with attending faculty when providing patient care, thus capitalizing on the ability to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to practice emergency medicine at the resident level. The second-year focus is on emergency medicine and critical care, generally taking the majority of trauma and medically unstable patients. The resident leads a patient care team in the department, and as the year progresses, so will the resident's responsibilities for patient care. During the third year, residents assume administrative responsibility for the ED, including patient flow and patient care. Management techniques and patient care skills are maximized during this year. The PGY-3 provides oversight to all medical students and interns, as well as having independent medical command over the EMS Biotel system.
8. What is the emergency department shift structure for residents at Parkland?
The ED months include approximately 215 hours (shift number varies depending on 10 vs 12 mix) during the PGY-1 year, 192 hours during PGY-2 year, and 170 hours during PGY-3 year. Parkland ED shifts are a hybrid of twelves and overlapping tens. The 10-hour circadian rhythm schedule has a built in 2-hour overlap to decrease sign out, and includes 3 shifts each weekday (6a-4p, 2p-12a, 10p-8a). On weekends we revert back to non-overlapping twelves. The results have been excellent, and it's great to compare/contrast the difference in shifts so you'll know what you like when you graduate.
9. How is the pediatric training experience structured?
Two blocks of approximately 16 shifts (12 hours each) in the Children's Medical Center (CMC) ED are done in the PGY-1 year. Approximately 3 shifts of each EM month are spent at CMC during the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years (8 hour shifts). Also, PGY-2 residents act as integral team members of the Pediatric ICU for one block.
10. What kind of attending coverage is scheduled at Parkland?
Attending Physicians are in the Emergency Department at all times. Since Spring 2009, there have been four faculty on duty at all times. Moreover, ultrasound and toxicology faculty are often present in the ED as well.
11. Are pre-hospital training opportunities available at Parkland/UT Southwestern?
Clearly one of the strengths of the program at UT Southwestern, a pre-hospital emphasis is a direct result of our Chairman’s vision on the communities’ chains of survival and recovery. Training opportunities include: Biotel – Parkland ED based command center where EM residents provide online medical control for the Dallas EMS and multiple suburban EMS systems; and an optional field aeromedical experience. Also, we have been chosen to be the athlete “docs” at the sideline to help oversee the paramedics for the Dallas Cowboys, Mavericks, and Stars games. We have participation in the unique and active disaster response and governmental emergency medical security programs, including tactical medicine, based within Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern and the Parkland ED.
12. What formal didactics are offered?
The didactics offered at UT Southwestern consist of a teaching lecture series, practical lab sessions, simulation labs, M & M conferences, journal clubs, advanced life support classes, radiology reviews, ECG reviews, resident case conferences, EMS base station course, and much, much more! Conference takes place on Thursdays from 0800 - 1200, and residents are excused from ED clinical duty during this time. The residents are responsible for 42 hours of asynchronous learning per year, and can choose from a menu of options as well as arrange their own (as long as it meets requirements). Please see the “Didactics” link for additional details.
13. What teaching opportunities are available for residents?
Teaching is an integral part of our residents' training curriculum. Residents will assume teaching roles in the internship year (via the weekly conference) and this responsibility grows throughout the residency. By the third year, residents will play a major role in the teaching conferences. The residency also offers a very unique rotation: each PGY3 resident serves as teaching resident for one block and is responsible for the medical students in the emergency department.
14. What research opportunities are available?
UT Southwestern is active in research and publishes multiple original articles, posters, abstracts, and book chapters per year. It is amazing being taught in the Emergency Department by the same people researching specific areas of Emergency Medicine. Residents have an opportunity to design a research month for an elective and spend focused time on a research project lead by any one of many faculty here at Parkland / UTSW. Emergency Medicine faculty are principal investigators currently on nearly $17 million in grants.
15. Do the residents get to evaluate the faculty and rotations?
Residents partake in a “360 degree” evaluation program, both providing and receiving evaluations from residency leadership, nursing, and support staff. The addition of this constructive feedback program across all levels of the department has been a great success.
16. Are there emergency medicine fellowships available at UT Southwestern?
Fellowships are an important part of the continuum of patient care and national leadership under development at UT Southwestern. Current fellowships are listed below. Please see the Fellowship link for additional information.
- Toxicology Fellowship
- GEMSS Fellowship
- Emergency Medical Services Fellowship
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship
- Practice Management and Health Policy Fellowship
17. What about Compensation and Benefits?
Residents receive competitive house staff salary with standard yearly increases for inflation. In addition, Medical/Dental/Vision plans exist and as well as a great retirement plan that will match your contributions 1:1 up to a set limit. For specifics on the salary and benefits see the Parkland Page. All residents receive a Tintinalli’s Comprehensive Emergency Medicine Study Guide, four sets of embroidered scrubs, a pair of embroidered white coats, and membership into EMRA/ACEP and TCEP (Texas College of Emergency Physicians). Senior residents are funded through the program to go to one academic meeting: ACEP or SAEM.
18. What is it like living in Dallas?
The Dallas/Fort Worth area offers affordable living, combined with a diverse range of recreational opportunities. There are a wide variety of apartment leasing opportunities close to the hospital in Dallas’s most upscale, trendy areas without the price tag seen in many of America’s major cities. Homes are very affordable. Though many choose to rent, it is not uncommon for residents (particularly those with families) to purchase properties in Dallas or other suburban areas within 30 minutes from Parkland Hospital. The surrounding cities are home to nationally recognized school districts. Recreational opportunities meet all interests. This includes a renowned arts district, great shopping, several professional sports teams, many local and state parks, and multiple lakes.
19. Is ultrasound used in the ED?
Parkland now employs 2 ultrasound-specific faculty that implement multiple ultrasound labs throughout the year. They also work especially with interns during their month-long rotation in Ultrasound. Our residents routinely use ultrasound for invasive procedures including central lines, paracentesis, peripheral IVs, and regional nerve blocks, to name a few. The use of ultrasound is definitively becoming part of our standard practice.
20. What about socializing outside the ED?
We hold monthly journal club meetings to clinically appraise recent journal articles applicable to Emergency Medicine. These are usually held at a restaurant or faculty member’s house. We also have a monthly Texas Hold-Em' Poker night. There is also a monthly happy hour, an event meant for everyone in the ER including Techs, RNs, residents, and attending physicians. A Resident Family Association for spouses and families is also underway, with more details available to residents.
21. What are the Off-Service Rotations and Call Schedules?
PGY-1: No call on Ultrasound, Adult Anesthesiology, Pediatric Anesthesiology, Toxicology, and Gynecology and Obstetrical Emergency Clinic rotations; IM Wards (3 weeks) call q4, Trauma (4 weeks) call q3, and Cardiac ICU (4 weeks) call q4
PGY-2: Trauma call q3, Pediatric ICU call q4, Burn ICU q7, and no call for ED based Orthopedic Surgery rotation, neonatal resuscitation team rotation, or Community EM rotation
PGY-3: No call for any PGY3 rotation, including Trauma/Community EM rotation at Methodist Hospital, Community EM rotations at Baylor and Presbyterian Hospitals, the Teaching Resident rotation, and Elective rotations, including New Zealand.
Please contact the chiefs using the "contact us" link in the top right of the page for additional questions.