Residents practicing airway management in the simulation lab

Training & curriculum

Three years in the trenches

A curriculum built around one idea: you learn emergency medicine by practicing it, with an attending right next to you.

“You are the doctor. We’re right next to you.”

Progressive responsibility here is earned through readiness and engagement, not granted by PGY year. You manage your own patients from the first block, and supervision steps back as your judgment steps up.

By the senior year you are running the department under attending backup: leading resuscitations, teaching juniors and students, and making the disposition calls.

Walk through a shift →

Rotation schedule

The three-year map

Each bar is drawn to scale: segment length equals weeks on rotation.

EM · St. Joseph
EM · St. Catherine
Critical care
Pediatrics
Off-service
Elective

PGY-1

Foundations

24 weeks of EM plus core off-service skills.

Emergency Medicine20 wk SJH + 4 wk St. Catherine

Anesthesia & Ultrasound4 wk, SJH & GSUH

ICU4 wk, St. Catherine

Pediatric EM8 wk, GSUH

Obstetrics2 wk, St. Charles

Toxicology4 wk, NYC Poison Control

PGY-2

Acuity

Trauma, critical care, EMS, and your first elective.

Emergency Medicine24 wk SJH + 4 wk St. Catherine

ICU4 wk SJH + 4 wk St. Catherine

EMS2 wk, FDNY

Pediatric EM4 wk, GSUH

PICU4 wk, GSUH

Trauma4 wk, GSUH (Level I)

Elective4 wk, your specialty choice

PGY-3

Leadership

Running the department, teaching, and observation medicine.

Emergency Medicine20 wk SJH + 4 wk St. Catherine

EM Teaching8 wk, SJH

Pediatric EM4 wk, GSUH

Clinical Decision Unit4 wk, SJH

Trauma4 wk, GSUH (Level I)

Elective4 wk, your specialty choice

Bars show scheduled rotation blocks; vacation and interstitial weeks are not drawn. Block order varies by resident. Select any bar to read about that rotation.

Every rotation

What you actually do on each block

St. Joseph Hospital · Bethpage

Emergency Medicine · St. Joseph

PGY-1 20 wk · PGY-2 24 wk · PGY-3 20 wk

The program’s home and where most of your EM training happens. A 203-bed community hospital with 35,000 ED visits a year, certified as a Chest Pain Center and Primary Stroke Center, with an on-site cath lab. You learn to carry high volume without losing quality, alongside faculty who mentor you in both clinical practice and systems-based practice.

35,000 visits / yr
Chest Pain Center
Primary Stroke Center
On-site cath lab

Unopposed at St. Joseph

See one. Do one.

No other residency competes for procedures in this department. They are yours.

All

Airways

EM residents manage every airway in the ED.

All

Chest tubes

With no general surgery residency in house, residents place every chest tube.

All

Lumbar punctures

EM residents perform every LP in the ED.

Everything else

Lacerations, I&Ds, ENT procedures, orthopedic splinting, and ophthalmology procedures.

Shift structure

Shifts

PGY-1 shifts / mo

PGY-2 shifts / mo

PGY-3 shifts / mo

12-hour ED shifts

Emergency medicine blocks at St. Joseph and St. Catherine, and pediatric EM blocks, run on 12-hour shifts. Off-service rotations vary between 8 and 12 hours.

Fewer shifts as you rise

Monthly ED shift counts step down from 17 as a PGY-1 to 16 as a PGY-2 and 15 as a PGY-3, opening time for teaching, research, and senior responsibilities.

Wednesday mornings, no shifts

No shifts are scheduled during Wednesday conference, so education time is never traded for coverage.

Tuesdays end by 7 PM

No overnight shifts on Tuesdays, and every Tuesday shift ends by 7 PM, so you arrive at conference rested.

Conference & education

Wednesdays are protected

Every Wednesday is a full day of faculty and guest lectures, oral board prep, and hands-on EM skills, with case-based learning built into every conference.

Three residents practicing airway management on a simulator

Residents around a conference table working through an ECG together

Residents standing in front of their research poster at ACEP New York

Simulation lab

Every seat at the bed

Residents run high-acuity and rare presentations in the sim lab before they meet them in the department. You rotate through every role in the scenario, from running compressions to leading the team, so by the time you are team leader you know what each person in the room needs from you.

Research

One project required. Most do more.

Every resident completes at least one research project. Regular research lectures cover critical appraisal and the biostatistics needed to read the literature well, and residents are encouraged to present at local and national EM conferences.

Weekly conference

Faculty and guest lectures, case-based discussion, and hands-on EM skills every Wednesday.

Cadaver lab

Procedural competence built on true anatomy before you need it under pressure in the ED.

Oral boards

Regular oral board practice built into conference.

Rounds

EKG, X-ray, and ultrasound rounds built into the department’s rhythm.

M&M, Grand Rounds, Journal Club

Monthly morbidity & mortality, grand rounds, and journal club.

Board prep

Board review sessions, a Structured Reading Program, Rosh Review, and quarterly mock in-service exams.

Disaster training

Mass-casualty and disaster medicine exercises.

Intern orientation

An easing-in period covering the health system, the department, and the essentials before your first shift.

Elective time

Dedicated electives in PGY-2 and PGY-3 built around your interests.

Next: the people you’ll train with

Meet the residents