Program Overview

Residents are exposed to the breadth of emergency medicine via our program. Our residents are expected to take the lead in patient care decision-making. This is in contrast to some larger institutions where other specialty residents, fellows and subspecialists intervene early during ED evaluations and guide care. In addition, our residents report directly to attending physicians, not senior or chief residents, when off-service. This results in higher quality instruction and feedback from faculty members and greater resident accountability for patient care.

Our hospital system trains only 2 residency programs – Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine. This lack of competition provides our residents with the opportunity to assume responsibility for an ideal number of patients. Our residents deliver babies, assist in appendectomies, and log impressive numbers of procedures, especially surgical procedures such as central lines, chest tubes and intubations, because the program is essentially unopposed. Our medical students also benefit from this wealth of procedural opportunities.

We believe that learning best takes place in an environment of open communication where students feel comfortable asking questions and seeking help. Our dedicated faculty is enthusiastic, approachable and invested in the success of each resident. We encourage open discussion in conference as well as in the emergency department and we value and actively solicit resident input.

Our program embraces the concept that adult learners respond best to a variety of teaching modalities. We incorporate a variety of teaching techniques in our curriculum. Small group meetings, flipped classroom activities, procedure laboratories and Sim Lab are just a few of our favorites. We employ Kahoot, Jeopardy style games and interactive lectures with audience response to engage the learner. We rotate through hands-on skills stations on Round Robin Days in small groups - instead of sitting still in a classroom for several hours. We teach topics specific to each resident’s level of training in our Year Directed Conference.

Our residents embrace our program as their home away from home. The small class size, coupled with a high faculty to resident ratio encourages strong relationship building. We get to know each other very well, not only at work, but also at numerous organized and informal social events. While single residents will find plenty of places to meet people in our community, we consider our program to be family friendly as well. Our supportive program welcomes all residents and their loved ones to its frequent gatherings.

We utilize simulation as an adjunct to bedside clinical teaching. Residents and faculty participate in small group simulation cases every conference day. In addition, our residents practice resuscitation skills individually with direct feedback every other month. We host a local SIMWARS each spring and send SIMWARS teams to regional and national competitions each year.

We have a true commitment to the practice of bedside ultrasound. We teach our residents to integrate US into daily clinical practice. We offer a US rotation during the first year of residency and almost every resident chooses to take the Emergency Ultrasound elective as a senior. By combining interactive didactics with hands-on scanning labs and bedside teaching in the ED during every clinical shift, all of our graduates perform well above the minimum number of scans recommended by the ACEP Emergency Ultrasound Guidelines. A number of our graduates have gone on to leadership positions in Emergency Ultrasound after graduation.

Our residents are exposed to a variety of board preparation tools. Audience response board review sessions are scheduled throughout the year. Residents participate in a structured oral board review course and mock oral boards. We utilize flashcards, board review didactics and practice questions throughout the year in preparation for the annual in-training examination. Our residents consistently perform near the top on standardized exams.

We take the edict “work hard and play hard” to heart here in South Texas. We are fortunate to have accessible beaches and warm weather throughout the year and all of us take advantage of this. We like to stand-up-paddleboard, surf, kayak, sail, kite board, wake board, fish and swim in our free time. Corpus Christi’s wind makes it the ideal place to windsurf. Both faculty and residents enjoy participating in local and national races. Our residents train for triathlons, marathons, and bike races in addition to training for careers in emergency medicine. All of us enjoy relaxing on the beach with friends and family and the Gulf Coast fishing is exceptional.