Eight freshly minted medical doctors will spend the next three years in northwest Ohio training to become emergency medicine specialists in a new residency program at The University of Toledo College Medicine, in collaboration with St. Luke’s Hospital.
Dr. Catherine Marco, associate professor and residency program director, left, and Dr. Kris Brickman, associate professor and chairman of UT’s Department of Emergency Medicine, right, posed with the new emergency medicine residents on the helipad outside UT Medical Center.
The residents began July 1 and completed their monthlong orientation at St. Luke’s and UTMC.
“Emergency medicine is one of the most underserved specialties in medicine in our country today,” said Dr. Kris Brickman, associate professor and chairman of UT’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “Many hospitals don’t have properly trained emergency medicine physicians, and as a leader in academic medicine, I feel UT needed to help in this area.”
Dr. Catherine Marco, associate professor and residency program director, added, “Emergency medicine is an important specialty to provide lifesaving medical and trauma care. These residents will serve an important role in society in three years.”
The residency program will host eight emergency medicine residents each year. That means 24 highly educated physicians likely will be looking for jobs in the area when their training has been completed.
“Residents tend to stay and practice where they train, so we hope to keep many of them in the region,” Brickman said.
In addition to caring for patients in the emergency departments at both hospitals, residents will complete one-month rotations in surgery, anesthesia, intensive care and pediatrics. Rotations in pediatric emergency medicine and obstetrics will be done at Toledo Hospital.
Dr. Michael Guinness, chairman of St. Luke’s Emergency Medicine Department, will be the site coordinator at St. Luke’s.
“This is a great new opportunity to nurture and develop the skills of tomorrow’s emergency medicine physicians,” Guinness said.
To that end, Brickman said this program will differ from others by focusing on the future needs in health care.
Specifically, residents will learn about how to develop disaster assistance plans, global health issues, and the business side of medicine and an emergency department.
The residents will care for patients in conjunction with attending emergency medicine physicians, and also will be involved in communications with the patients’ primary care physicians.
