Emergency Medicine Elective Course Description

Student must be in good standing and be in final year of medical school with a strong interest in Emergency Medicine

Elective Description:
Requirements:

1. Attend UMMMC hospital, ground ambulance orientation and safety seminars and briefings.
2. Attend weekly EM Resident Conference.
3. Attend all aspects of the EMS clinical rotation to include command shifts, ambulance shifts, Emergency Medical Dispatch shifts and medical director clinical shifts.
4. Complete an evaluation of the Medical Student Clinical Elective in Emergency Medical Services.

Goals:

1. Understand EMS in the Central Massachusetts area.
2. Obtain focused history and physical exams in the pre-hospital setting with undifferentiated illness or injury.
3. Recognize seriously ill patients and how to treat immediate life threats.
4. Interact with all levels and members of the pre-hospital health team.
5. Understand the process of medical oversight and quality assurance in pre-hospital medicine.

Methods:

1. Didactic sessions in Emergency Medicine, Disaster Medicine and Emergency Medical Services.
2. Supervised practice by attending paramedics of pre-hospital patient assessments and basic life support skills to include but not limited to CPR, bandaging, splinting and spinal immobilization.
3. Direct observation of paramedics providing advanced life support skills in the pre-hospital setting to include but not limited to IV / IO insertion, defibrillation  / cardioversion, ECG Interpretation, drug therapy and advanced airways.
4. Active participation in EMS and LifeFlight concurrent quality assurance practices and meetings.
5. Direct observation of EMS medical directors in field environment and attending to patients in the emergency room and their interactions with pre-hospital providers.
6. Active participation with UMass Chan Medical School 4^th year students in the EM Simulation Laboratory.
7. Participation in the planning and EMS response to at a crowd medicine event.