Emergency Medicine

Fellowship Director: Peter Dayan, MD, MSc
Assistant Fellowship Director: Cindy Roskind, MD

Overview

Our ACGME certified Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) Fellowship program is now entering its tenth year. We are a three year program, and we currently accept one fellow each year. Our program offers fellows a broad exposure to the clinical, academic, and administrative aspects of PEM.

Goals

The main goals of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Subspecialty Program are to produce clinicians who provide compassionate, state of the art emergency care for children, academicians who are skilled in critical appraisal of the literature and research techniques, teachers and role models to other health care personnel and the community, and local and national leaders in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

Clinical Curriculum

The majority of clinical time is spent in the pediatric ED. Fellows directly supervise patient care, teaching both medical students and pediatric and emergency medicine residents, and gradually become responsible for managing the PED. Fellows also complete specific rotations in pediatric anesthesia, pediatric critical care, trauma, adult emergency medicine, wound management, orthopedics, toxicology, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and child advocacy to bolster necessary skills. Electives in a variety of clinical areas such as ophthalmology, ENT, and plastic surgery are encouraged.

Research/ Academic opportunities

Academic Training

Fellows attend an annual biostatistics and epidemiology course designed for all fellows within MS CHONY. Additionally, fellows are encouraged to enroll in courses at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and we provide substantial time and financial support to attend courses. The first year fellow attends an annual New York City wide two-day Evidence Based Medicine Workshop as well as the national PEM fellow's conference.

Academic Conferences

Fellows participate in a multitude of academic conferences some of which are listed below:

1. Weekly fellows' tutorial — Fellows actively participate in weekly one-hour tutorials facilitated by the attending faculty. These interactive sessions focus on the diagnosis and therapy of common illnesses and complaints. Topics are jointly chosen by the Assistant Director and the fellows, and fellows are expected to prepare with appropriate readings. We devote regular tutorial sessions to mock codes.
2. Weekly departmental administrative meeting — Fellows actively participate in emergency department business and administration meetings during which policy changes and QA/QI initiatives are discussed.
3. Weekly departmental academic conference — These 2-hour conferences utilize an evidenced based medicine approach to relevant clinical questions. Recent literature is reviewed in detail and experts from other divisions are invited to attend. Fellows are expected to be active participants.
4. Procedure labs — Five times each year our division demonstrates and practices emergency procedures such as chest tube placement and cricothyrotomy in the medical student anatomy laboratory.
5. PEM / Critical Care conference — This is an interdepartmental conference that occurs quarterly and is meant to address clinical questions pertinent to both divisions. The conference is run by the fellows from both divisions.

Teaching opportunities

In addition to daily bedside teaching in the ED, fellows have multiple, more formalized, teaching opportunities. Included in the fellow's conference curriculum are several sessions which focus on the development of teaching skills. Fellows are responsible for presenting multiple conferences per year for the EM and pediatric residents. These sessions are directly supervised by faculty so that feedback may be appropriately provided. Additionally, fellows are responsible for preparing at least two sessions per year at the weekly departmental academic conferences. Fellows also coordinate weekly mock code sessions for the residents rotating in the ED.

Outreach programs — Fellows actively participate in:

1. Annual children's health fair organized by the Pediatric Emergency Department
2. Program to teach community public school teachers the management of common emergencies
3. Program to teach local elementary students how to take care of common medical emergencies

Application information

Applications are processed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), and we participate in the NRMP Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Matching Program.

Please submit your common application form via the ERAS system along with:

1. Personal statement
2. Three letters of recommendation from faculty members at your institution (Please include one from your program director and preferably one from a Pediatric ED faculty member.)
3. Dean's letter from medical school

The deadline for submission of completed applications is August 31, 2005. For further information, prospective candidates may contact Ms. Mayra Duarte at (212) 305-9825 or mab9010@nyp.org or Dr. Cindy Roskind, Assistant Fellowship Director, at (212) 342-3594 or cg278@columbia.edu.