PGY-3 ROTATIONS

Selective
Similar to second year, third years will create a selective in their area of interest within the field of emergency medicine. As a third year resident, you can use this time to build on prior projects you started during your second year selective or change it up and do something new. At this point, you may already have a niche in EM that you really enjoy and this month is a perfect time to get further involved in that area. It’s also a great time to focus on career-planning activities such as CV building, reaching out to potential employers, or working on your fellowship application.

Burn
Third year residents have the opportunity to gain valuable skills in evaluation and treatment of thermal, electrical, chemical, and inhalational injuries. We participate in the initial evaluation of burn patients, in order to better characterize burns and learn which patients require burn consultation or transfer to a burn center. In the burn ICU, third years function as senior residents, focusing on management and resuscitation of burn patients, and supervising junior residents during bedside procedures and procedural sedations. Through didactics, hands on wound care, and participation in the initial evaluation of burn patients in the ED, this rotation offers residents a great opportunity to gain experience with burn patients.

MICU Senior
During our third year, we act as the MICU senior during two separate two-week rotations. Duties include daily rounding as part of the larger MICU team including an attending, fellow, EM and IM interns, nursing staff, respiratory therapists, and pharmacy. Seniors are responsible for overseeing consults, procedures, teaching, and patient management. This is often a very procedure-heavy rotation with many opportunities for central lines, arterial lines, paracentesis, lumbar punctures, etc. We are the primary responders to codes both in the ICU and throughout the hospital during the rotation. Being the MICU senior provides the unique chance to lead the team and become primary decision-maker when attendings and fellows leave for the night. It’s an awesome exercise to see how far we’ve come!