Vanderbilt Emergency Medicine

Choosing the right residency is one of the most important decisions you will make. There are a large number of residency programs to choose from, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Our training program will allow graduates to pursue careers in academics, research, administration or clinical Emergency Medicine. We provide exemplary clinical care in an academically productive fashion. Many of our faculty have developed, participated in, or directed other Emergency Medicine residency programs.

A strong and respected faculty including nationally renowned teachers.

Our faculty is committed to a learning environment that is challenging, collegial, and fun. A University Medical Center that serves as both a local hospital and regional referral center with separate Adult and Children’s Hospitals on the same campus. Vanderbilt is the region’s neonatal center, pediatric center, poison center, trauma center, pediatric trauma center, tertiary care referral center, burn center, and transplant center.

 

Both the Adult and Pediatric Emergency Departments are busy parts of Vanderbilt’s Level I Trauma Centers.

Residents are involved in all phases of trauma care including a nearly two-month rotation as an admitting resident on the Trauma Service. Our Adult Trauma Center is one of the busiest in the country with more than 4,000 Level I resuscitations per year. Our Children’s Hospital, like the Adult Hospital, is the only Trauma Center within 150 miles. Our department directs the vast majority of EMS care in the area, including the city’s paramedics and the region’s busy helicopter transport system. Residents will learn from, and subsequently teach, all levels and types of pre-hospital care providers. Faculty members in Emergency Medicine assist in the medical direction for the region's EMS and helicopter transportation service. Residents will have extensive exposure to emergency medicine in the streets and in the air, as well as to EMS administration, research, and education.

 

We have two board-certified toxicologists who supervise a very active toxicology consult service and the state’s poison control center.

 

Residents spend time in medical, cardiac, pediatric, and trauma ICUs during their three years in the program. On these rotations, they will have the opportunity to manage a large number of hemodynamically unstable medical and surgical patients. 

 

The opportunity to participate in clinically relevant research projects. 

Emergency Medicine researchers with extensive experience in both clinical and basic science research mentor interested residents in meeting their research goals. Our faculty’s research excellence has resulted in a dramatic increase in grant submissions and federal support

 

Expertise in reading radiologic studies is essential.

Our residents are trained by emergency radiologists who work with us in an adjacent ED reading room 24 hours per day. These highly motivated academic radiologists excel at the art of teaching radiologic interpretations. Similarly, ultrasonography is taught by a fellowship trained emergency medicine faculty member whose career focus is to have each resident graduate as an expert in emergency bedside ultrasonography.

 

The evaluation of chest pain, the art of ECG reading and an in-depth understanding of cardiovascular pathophysiology is essential to emergency physicians. Our program excels in cardiovascular emergencies. Not only is it the major interest of both the Chair and Residency Director, but a board certified emergency cardiologist has joined our faculty. His leadership of our Chest Pain Center guarantees you will learn the latest techniques and protocols involving coronary CT evaluation and myocardial PET scanning to evaluate possible acute coronary symptoms.

 

Training at Vanderbilt in Nashville

Vanderbilt is consistently rated as a top 10-20 U.S. Medical Center. It is located in Nashville, which is rated as one of the best U.S. cities for quality of life and rate of growth. Our residents work hard in a friendly atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Our department’s teaching philosophy is that learning is facilitated by teamwork.