Types of EM Fellowships
Written by Puja Singh, MD
There are lots of options after EM residency, including a fellowship. Some are ACGME accredited and others are not. Fellowships are generally 1-3 years. There are multiple options and programs to concomitantly do fellowship training as well as additional degrees such as an MPH, MBA, MEd, MHA, or Ph.D. EM is a fabulous career and there are so many ways to expand your career and build your niche!
Let's focus on a few of the popular EM fellowships:
- Ultrasound- during the 1-year long fellowship, fellows complete around 1,000 ultrasounds. You can get more training if you feel as though you may not have done enough during residency and can focus on specific areas and niches. There are many avenues after this fellowship whether it be education, administration, director, or research. You also get to delve into the administration aspect of conducting and running an ultrasound division of a hospital/program.
- Critical Care- there are many routes and paths for crit care fellowship, whether it be cardiac, neuro, trauma, or medicine. Some programs combine medicine, anesthesia, surgery, and EM spots, while others are specific just to EM/crit care fellows. There is also currently a shortage of intensivists in the nation. In these fellowships, you can perform procedures and critical care of patients similar to the ED, but in addition, you learn to treat critical patients long term, as opposed to just the acute unstable period in the ED. There are many ways to split your time after this- some choose 1 or the other to spend their time in, whereas others choose to split their time evenly between the ED and ICU.
- Toxicology- this fellowship focuses on the recognition, management, and treatment of poisons. You also get a sliver of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and chemistry. You learn to manage chemical exposures, overdoses, withdrawal, plant toxins, and much more. For future options, you can serve as an ED consultant or work in the pharmaceutical industry.
- International EM- this fellowship focuses on broadening and spreading EM throughout the world. Born out of Doctors without Borders and organizations similar to this one, this specialty allows EM practitioners to expand the field of EM and build the practice of EM in other developing countries. You can also pursue multiple degrees within this field such as an MPH. This field allows you to teach and travel to spread knowledge internationally.
- Palliative- This specialty helps to teach you how to allow your patients to live with dignity, relieve suffering, and promote comfort in the most critical and ill moments of a patient’s life. You learn to delve into the emotional and supportive measures that can help make a patient and their loved ones comfortable. Once again, residents from multiple specialties can participate in this field such as PMR, FM, and IM.
- Sports Medicine- residents part of IM, FM, PMR, EM, and peds can pursue this specialty. This allows you to take care of orthopedic injuries and people that are active. You become an expert in MSK pathology. You are also able to participate in sporting events as the physician on call. Similar to other fellowships, you can split your time between the ED/urgent care and outpatient offices or sporting events as you choose
