EMER 9410: EMS Elective (M4/PGY)

Welcome to the WMed EMS Elective in Kalamazoo, MI!

This elective offers students the opportunity to learn about and experience pre-hospital and disaster medicine through a series of structured didactic sessions and hands-on field experiences. This elective is made possible by several partnerships: Wmed Department of Emergency Medicine Division of EMS, Kalamazoo County Medical Control Authority, Kalamazoo County Fire Departments, Kalamazoo County 911 Dispatch, and ambulance services of Life, PrideCare, and LifeCare.

EMS is a relatively new specialty in the house of medicine, becoming an ABEM Boarded subspecialty in September 2010 with the first certification exam administered in 2013. The Kalamazoo County EMS system is a high-performance single tier ALS system with countywide BLS first responders. Serving a population of a quarter million, the EMS system is made up of four ambulance services covering designated areas of the county and sixteen first responder agencies – fire departments and public safety.

The two-week curriculum is broken into 2 topic blocks, including history of ems and introduction to medical direction and system design. The four-week curriculum is broken into 4 topic blocks, including history of ems, introduction to medical direction and system design, quality improvement and finance, and special ops. The NAEMSP textbook and online FEMA resources will be utilized. Students will ride along with our physician-staffed medical support unit, spend time with a fire department and ambulance agency, and observe emergency call taking and dispatching at a 911 and ems dispatch center. Additionally depending on which weeks the elective encompasses, students will participate in monthly local and regional meetings, weekly ems didactics and emergency medicine grand rounds, monthly sim lab, and monthly ems case review. The course concludes with a written exam based on the topic blocks and a written course evaluation. The course readings, exam, and evaluation will be available through an online learning platform, moodle. Students may work ahead on assignments. Course faculty include Wmed EMS Fellowship faculty/fellows.

Director: Joshua Mastenbrook MD

Department: Emergency Medicine

Coordinator: Christina Benson

Telephone number: 269-337-6600

Email address: Christina.benson@med.wmich.edu

Blocks available: November - April. The 2-week elective starts on the 1st Monday of each month. The 4-week elective starts on the 1st Monday of each month. See Rotation schedule for details. Each block starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday.