Medical Student Education
The Department of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provides an excellent opportunity for medical students to develop their skills in the assessment and management of acutely ill and ambulatory patients. As a Level 1 trauma center with an annual patient volume of approximately 53,000 patients, the department serves as the clinical training site for over 100 medical students each year.
Clinical Activities
Students will be expected to work a combination of day, evening, night, and weekend shifts. Allowances will be made for emergency medicine didactic sessions held inside and outside the hospital. Your schedule will consist of the following:
- You will work a total of 18 to 20 eight hour shifts during your elective.
- An optional eight-hour ride-along with Fallon Ambulance is available and can be scheduled in lieu of an ED shift.
- During some months, a one-day excursion with the Massachusetts Coast Guard, practicing ocean search-and-rescue is available.
- If interested, you may attend a morning conference at the Massachusetts Regional Poison Control Center located at Children's Hospital.
Didactic Activities
An extensive didactic schedule is available to students on rotation in emergency medicine at BIDMC.
- Monday: Medic rounds with EMS faculty
- Tuesday: Emergency Medicine student and resident conference with EM faculty
- Wednesday: Morbidity & Mortality conference, followed by BIDMC/HAEMR residency lectures
- Thursday: HMS integrated student lectures in Emergency Medicine by the Department of EM
Elective in Emergency Medicine
The elective clerkship in Emergency Medicine at BIDMC is offered every month and is open to 12 students.
One of our goals for students is that they develop an understanding and appreciation for the breadth and depth of emergency medicine during their rotation. The evaluation and treatment of patients in the emergency department differs from that of patients who are on an inpatient service. The work of the physician is directed toward the initial assessment, stabilization, and management of patients with a wide range of presenting complaints and problems. You should use this elective experience to hone your skills in the following areas:
- Determine if a patient is acutely ill
- Help initiate emergent therapy to stabilize an unstable or deteriorating condition
- Create a differential diagnosis based on the patient's history and your physical examination findings
- Learn how to rule out potentially life-threatening illness
- Develop an assessment of the likely causes of the present complaint
- Help initiate a plan of treatment, whether it be through inpatient admission or outpatient care with primary physician follow-up
We encourage you to follow-up on your patients either on the inpatient floors or through their primary care physician in order to enhance your overall understanding of their illness, and to allow you to "close the loop" in your initial evaluation and treatment thoughts. You will find that patients are pleased to know that you are still interested in, and concerned about their care.
Because the evaluation of patients in the ED many times is based on a brief problem-oriented history and physical, the scope of your evaluation will be dictated in large part by the nature and level of acuity of the patient's presenting problems.
The ED provides a unique setting in which to learn and develop technical and procedural skills. The procedures which you may be able to observe or participate in will vary, but will include wound care and suturing, fracture and dislocation care, abscess incision and drainage, arthrocentesis, slit lamp examination, lumbar puncture, gastric intubation, femoral venipuncture and catheterization, and arterial puncture. Each student's exposure to these routine practices will vary, but every reasonable effort will be made to include you in the ongoing procedures while you are on a clinical shift.
International Students
The elective in EM is open to two international students per month.
Before their rotation, international students should contact the course directors to discuss their prior clinical experience and to determine their expected clinical activities.
