We have approximately 30-40 full-time University of Florida faculty. Most of these physicians work the majority of their time at our main campus in downtown Jacksonville. Others work at our newer UF Health North campus in a more community-style environment. Our program currently has 46 residents (19 female, 27 male), who are lead by 3 chief residents (PGY-3s).
As a resident, the majority of your time is spent at our main campus in downtown Jacksonville, FL. This is a 695-bed academic facility which includes a level 1 trauma center and a Florida Poison Center. The emergency department on this campus is divided in to 5 areas: Resus/Trauma, ECC (higher acuity), Flex (lower acuity), CDU (observation), and pediatrics.
Our residents also rotate through the emergency department at our north campus, 20 minutes north of our main campus. This department has more of a community-feel and allows PGY-3 residents to experience this practice style before graduating.
It goes without saying that the attending on duty ultimately run the department. However, our programs focuses strongly on encouraging autonomy, and our senior residents are given a large amount of responsibility. In our ECC area, the PGY-3 COD (Chief of the Day) is responsible for keeping track of the junior residents’ patients, advising junior residents on work-ups, and facilitating department flow with the nursing staff.
In Flex care, which generally experiences lower acuity patients (but can definitely have sick ones), PGY-2s primarily run the show as the COD. They help to facilitate care with PGY-1s and PA within this area. The Flex COD is also on the hospital Code Blue team, and will respond to all inpatient codes with the Flex attending. During codes, the Flex COD will be responsible for airway management.
In the Pediatric ED, PGY3s will spend time as the department senior, overseeing emergency medicine and pediatrics junior residents and working in collaboration with pediatric emergency medicine fellows.
From day one, the ECC junior resident (usually PGY-1) is responsible for airway management. It is not uncommon for a new PGY-1 to have multiple intubations on the first day of residency. Our program prides itself on airway management, and by the end of the first year residents have more than enough intubations to be fully competent and confident. In terms of department philosophy and practice, we focus on direct laryngoscopy during the PGY-1 experience to build full competence in this skill. As residents advance, we add in video laryngoscopy and other advanced modalities like fiber-optic.
For trauma patients, the ED Resus resident (usually PGY-2) is primarily in charge of airway management, but may switch off these duties with the trauma team to then become the trauma team leader. PGY-2 and 3 residents are also responsible for airway management on floor codes as part of the Code Blue Team.
While the official UF site has more information on the full benefit package, here are some highlights:
- Free garage parking on hospital grounds
- 2 pairs of scrubs and white coat provided by department, additional scrubs available in hospital
- Generous meal stipend (most residents have extra to spend at the end)
- Health insurance
- ED resident lounge
Our program has a weekly 4-hour conference on campus. These usually include lecture and simulation time. Each month, we also conduct department morbidity & mortality conference, which is conducted by the chief residents. Free breakfast at each conference!
Our department relies heavily on ultrasound for the treatment of our patients. Our ultrasound faculty, Drs Petra Duran and Andrew Shannon, develop a robust curriculum that starts during the first week of residency, with an in-depth introduction to ultrasound, and continues throughout training through ultrasound rotations, online journal clubs, conference teaching, and elective rotations. Our department has updated equipment dedicated to each specific area as well an online platform Qpath, which is used to view studies and provide quality feedback. This platform is also connected to our hospital PACS so studies can be uploaded in to the patient record and viewed by consultants. Given the robust quality and documentation system, our department is able to bill for studies performed by residents, which are over-read by attendings while on shift. Our simulation lab also utilizes ultrasound models to help develop skills in pelvic ultrasound and transesophageal echo.
The Department of Emergency Medicine manages the Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR), which is a 24,000 square foot high-fidelity simulation lab housed in an previous emergency department across the street. The lab also includes operating rooms and lecture rooms. This is where most of our weekly conferences are held.
Our department houses a long-standing pediatric emergency medicine fellowship program. Additionally, we recently had our first ultrasound fellow as well as research fellow.
While research is not the primary focus of our department, we have built quite a robust clinical research program over the past decade. We currently have multiple NIH-funded faculty and have a number of department studies focusing on sepsis, trauma, pain management, and pediatric asthma.
As a resident, you are responsible for completing a scholarly project during your training. While this is not required to be a formal research project, those who are interested in research have ample opportunity for guidance with project development and implementation.
Our faculty have a wide range of interests they bring to the table, here are just a few:
Andy Godwin (Chair): difficult airway management, critical care, simulation
Ashley Norse (Med Director): Legislation
Dave Caro (Program Director): airway management
Jay Khadpe (APD): Innovation in education
Melissa Parsons (APD): gender issues in medicine
Lexie Mannix (APD): gender issues in medicine
Petra Duran: Ultrasound
Andrew Shannon: Ultrasound
Andrew Schmidt: EMS, trauma, water safety
Dan Eraso: critical care, resuscitation
Liz Devos: International medicine
Spence Topp: procedural sedation
Mark McIntosh: Palliative care
Tom Morrissey: medical student education
Faheem Guirgis: Sepsis (NIH funded), research
Jen Fishe: pediatrics, EMS, research (NIH funded)
Lauren Page Black: sepsis, research (NIH funded)
Phyllis Hendry: pediatrics, research, ED pain management
Sophia Sheikh: toxicology, research, ED pain management
Yes, we are following the County Programs Community of Practice consensus for in-person second looks. We are planning to offer second looks in February after we have finalized our rank list to applicants who interviewed with our program. We will email those applicants with further details.
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