Emergency Medicine Fellowship

MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program was established in 2010 to train primary care physicians to work in Emergency Medicine. As a program recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties, fellowship graduates will qualify to sit for written and oral exams to achieve recognition by The Board of Certification in Emergency Medicine.

Our goal is to provide a high-quality, rigorous educational experience that prepares the graduate to work in a rural or community emergency department (ED). The fellow will work under the supervision of emergency medicine attending physicians.

Hear firsthand from Nicholas Grillo, MD, one of our fellows, about his experience.

Hear from Dr. Gifford about what makes MaineGeneral so special.

Fellowship Program Highlights

  • Program begins July 1 and lasts 12 months
  • Competitive salary, insurance benefits and relocation assistance as well as three weeks of vacation (to occur during ED rotations)
  • Funding available for required ATLS, Point-of-Care Ultrasound and The Difficult Airway Course
  • Strong curriculum based on the core competencies from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
  • Training in a state-of-the-art ED, in a 198-bed facility. The ED at the two campuses has 43,000 visits combined per year.

Goals

  • To understand the breadth and depth of emergency medicine practice
  • To develop the skills and knowledge needed to effectively work clinically as an emergency physician

Important Dates

  • Application period: The application period for this year has now closed.
  • Interviews: September
  • Decision date: Oct. 4

Application Criteria

  • Must have, or will be, graduated from an accredited allopathic or osteopathic family medicine residency program
  • ABFM/AOBFP or ABIM/AOBIM certification or eligibility
  • Must have or be eligible for a Maine license and a DEA certificate
  • Must have BLS/ACLS/PALS certifications
  • Must provide three letters of recommendation, including one from the program director
  • MaineGeneral does not sponsor J1 visas for this program

Application

Check back for the next round.

Objectives Based on Competencies

Consistent with the overriding framework of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) six core competencies, the educational objectives are as follows, in bold, by the specific competencies they promote.

Competencies are abbreviated as follows:

  • Interpersonal and Communications Skills (IPCS)
  • Medical Knowledge (MK)
  • Patient Care (PC)
  • Practice-Based Learning and Improvement (PLBI)
  • Professionalism (P)
  • Systems-Based Practice (SBP)

By the end of the year, the Fellow will:

  • Communicate with patients and family in a sensitive and compassionate manner (PC, IPSC);
  • Coordinate effective and appropriate pre-hospital and inter-facility transport care (MK, SBP);
  • Demonstrate the ability to lead and coordinate care with multiple nursing and technician staff members (IPCS, P);
  • Develop time-efficient and appropriate history, exam and differential diagnosis in the ED setting (PC, MK);
  • Effectively coordinate care with primary care providers and specialist physicians (IPCS, SBP);
  • Provide effective diagnostic and treatment plans for all patients who present to the ED (PC, MK); and
  • Provide evidence-based and cost-effective emergency care (PLBI, SBP, PC, MK).

Curriculum

The MGMC Emergency Medicine Fellowship curriculum consists of 13 four-week blocks as outlined below:

  • 7 blocks spent in the MGMC EDs in Augusta and Waterville
  • ½ block Intensive Care Unit
  • ½ block Anesthesia
  • 1 block Trauma; away at Level One Trauma Center - Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT
  • 1 block high-acuity Emergency Pediatrics; away at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, CT
  • 1 block elective (must be approved by program director)
  • Core content Lecture Series: each Tuesday is a dedicated day for didactic learning. Teaching is provided by faculty as well as guest lectures using Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine textbook as a general guide
  • Longitudinal research project with presentation at hospital Grand Rounds
  • Longitudinal learning includes regular mornings in the Operating Room with anesthesiologists and reading films with radiologists
  • Procedural competency will be achieved through a combination of the required courses, hands-on learning during the Core Content Lecture Series, and through longitudinal learning experiences in the Emergency Department, Operating Room, Intensive Care Unit and Trauma
  • Required, fully funded courses include: ATLS, Airway, Point-of-Care Ultrasound and The Difficult Airway Course
  • Additional learning experiences include hospital monthly Grand Rounds lectures, “Hospitalist University” lectures provided by the Hospitalists and monthly ED meetings
  • The Fellow will present at Grand Rounds at the end of the program year

Instructional Strategy

  • Eight core faculty will provide weekly protected teaching sessions on core emergency medicine topics framed by reading Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine with a goal of completing this text by year’s end
    • One faculty member board-certified in EMS who serves as the medical director for area EMS agencies. He responds to 911 calls as an EMS physician and will provide Fellows with instruction on EMS as a system and how best to work with EMS while working as an Emergency Medicine physician.
    • One faculty member is Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship trained who will work directly with the Fellows for instruction in Ultrasound. This is additional to the Ultrasound Course.
  • Patient care in an ED of 43,000 visits per year alongside an emergency medicine physician. It is expected the Fellow will see more than 1,500 patients.
  • The Fellow will travel to outside tertiary care centers to rotate in Trauma Surgery and Pediatric Emergency Medicine. One month for elective rotation is included.
  • Procedural competency will be achieved through a combination of outside courses (Ultrasound, Airway and Emergency Medicine Review) and longitudinal experience in the Emergency Department and with local anesthesia, critical care and surgery services. Learn more about our Procedural Training Curriculum.

Evaluation Method

Evaluations will be completed for each outside rotation and quarterly by in-house faculty.

Numbers of core procedures will be documented in New Innovations and evaluated by the Program Director and the Assistant Program Director.

Contact Us

For more information, please contact the Specialty & Medical Staff Recruitment Team at medicalstaffrecruit@mainegeneral.org.