Established in 1973 as the first community teaching hospital Emergency Medicine program in the country, Akron General Medical Center has a long-standing tradition of excellence in Emergency Medicine residency training. Our three-year program (PGY 1-3) provides training for seven residents at each level. It is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education of the American Medical Association (ACGME), meeting or exceeding all Residency Review Committee requirements for Emergency Medicine.
Residents receive training in our recently expanded and renovated, 33-bed, 17,500 square-foot Emergency Department, which serves 60,000 patients annually and has a 27 percent admission rate as testimony to the high acuity level. The ED utilizes a computer-based patient tracking and data management system to provide an efficient method of directing resources and care to patients. This software also provides computer-generated patient discharge instructions, specific to each patient. Residents use the tracking system for their case and procedure logs.
The Emergency Department is a critical part of Akron General Medical Center's verification by the American College of Surgeons as a Level-I Trauma Center. This recognizes Akron General as the highest level regional resource for comprehensive care for seriously ill and injured patients. As a Level-I Trauma Center and Akron's first Accredited Stroke Center and Chest Pain Center, Akron General also serves as the Northeast Ohio base hospital for MedFlight, an air ambulance helicopter transport service. Residents have the option to fly with the helicopter as part of their EMS experience.
The educational curriculum of the residency is a unique combination of didactic conferences, interactive case simulations, laboratories, peer review, specialized seminars and clinical training. Residents have inpatient rotations through each major service. Ambulatory medicine experience is provided through clinics and preceptorships in specialists' and subspecialists' offices. Emergency Ultrasound certification as delineated by the guidelines of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) is available through the three years of training.
Pediatric training is done through association with Akron Children's Hospital. In addition to the two months spent exclusively in the Emergency Medicine Department at Children's, residents work several shifts at Children's during their adult Emergency Medicine months. Two months are also spent at Akron Children's in PICU, Orthopaedics and Radiology.
Second-year residents receive additional trauma and intensive care experience at Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services in Baltimore and MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, with specialized training available on an individual basis at other centers. Research is strongly encouraged and funding and protected time are offered.
Akron General Medical Center provides EMS experience and serves as medical control and medical advisor for the City of Akron and surrounding communities' EMS systems, fielding more than 10,000 calls per year. The Emergency Department's Paramedic Training Program offers EMT-A and EMT-P classes with residents as an integral part of the training through lectures, precepting in the ED and supervising paramedic skill stations.
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