Why Choose Stanford/Kaiser Emergency Medicine?

"So what do you like best about the Stanford/Kaiser EM program?"

“Tremendous clinical training, fun co-residents, and brilliant attendings…I love the option stay on a 4th year in one of the numerous fellowships to further develop the skills for a career in academic emergency medicine.”

Kit Delgado, R3
Columbia University

“The best thing about the program is its residents, hands down. You will be hard pressed to find a crew as willing to teach, to help you feel at home and to push you to be the best ED doc that you can be.”

Nick Lopez, R3
Harvard University

“Not only do we get county hospital trauma, but also the complex management of cases in a tertiary care center like immunocompromised or transplant patients.”

Anil Menon, R3
Stanford University

Menon

“The diversity of clinical experiences and the fact that our colleagues both in EM and other specialties are some of the top residents in the country. But above all, our program is made up of a supportive group of individuals who are fun to work and socialize with.”

Kirsten Mewaldt, R3
USC

Mewaldt

“You get to work in four totally different types of EDs which allows you to develop a sense of what kind of place you ultimately want to work in.”

Jessica Ngo, Alumnus (’05-0’08),
Stanford University Medical Center, EMS and Disaster Medicine Fellow

Ngo

“There’s a real sense of family among the residents and attendings. It makes for a great learning environment.”

Kimberly Schertzer, Alumnus (’05-’08), Stanford University Medical Center, Simulation Fellow

Schertzer

“Fantastic training at a variety of sites that allows for the ability to be prepared for anything. A very supportive environment among residents and a huge number of caring, supportive faculty who thrive on teaching.”

Dawn Mudie, alumnus, Staff Physician, Kaiser-Permanente, South Sacramento (teaching hospital for UC Davis EM)

Mudie

“Fantastic co-residents, site diversity, ancillary staff and nursing, location, location, location!”

Jonathan Vlahos, alumnus, Staff Physician, Alta-Bates Hospital, Berkeley, CA

Vlahos

“I felt completely prepared to run an ED. Three years is plenty…Our residents get LOTS of trauma experience, peds experience, and our strength is managing really sick medical patients (you’ll get LOTS of those), which are the most challenging intellectually.”

Ingrid Lim, Chief Resident (05-06) Attending, Kaiser San Francisco Clinical Instructor, Stanford

by the Residents

Great people
Incredible clinical training and diversity of experiences
The faculty
Outstanding didactics
Vast opportunities
Amazing place to live
Full/maximum period accreditation from the ACGME since inception in 1991.
Unique 3+1 format:

3 years of formal residency training leading to board eligibility and outstanding clinical skills
1 optional additional year for career development

Fellowships
Academic experience
Junior faculty level position

People

Our residents come from all over the country with diverse interests and perspectives. Many of us believe our fellow residents and the friendships we have forged are the best thing about the Stanford/Kaiser residency.
It’s never hard to find someone in this group who likes doing something you’re interested in. Active interests of our residents include:

Biking, swimming, running, triathlons, aviation, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, guitar, tennis, ultimate Frisbee, golf, barbequing, poker, dancing, going out in the city, and travel to name a few.

Supportive residency leadership

Program directors recognized for education, administration, and mentorship. They have been nominated by the residents for several national awards.
EM faculty member who is also the Wellness Director for the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Annual 2-day retreat at the beach
Faculty: Even though they are nationally recognized educators, clinicians, and researchers, everyone is on a first name basis.

Mentorship

Big sibling in each class
Advisor program: quarterly meetings, feedback on all presentations.
Interest groups: faculty and residents with similar interests meet

Staff: Excellent interactions with nursing staff, consultants, and residents from other services

Tangible sense of camaraderie and team work
Customer service retreat at Stanford

Clinical Training

Three diverse hospital ED settings: tertiary care, community, and county hospital. Rotations from each have been carefully selected and integrated into the program because of the faculty, training, and patient care opportunities. This blend of ED training experiences sets the Stanford/Kaiser program apart and is one of the main reasons why we chose this program.
Outstanding trauma and procedural experience. We staff two of the four Level I trauma centers of the Bay Area with a combined trauma volume of nearly 5,000 activations per year. This includes the trauma center for the most populous city in the Bay Area (San Jose) and the 10th most populous in the country.
Trained to excel at handling complex, high acuity, and unusual cases at Stanford a major referral center for the West Coast. These include extensive experience with complex cardiac, surgical, orthopedic, neurological, transplant, oncology, as well as very high acuity pediatric cases.
Excellent community hospital experience in Kaiser’s highly efficient managed care system. Added benefit of one-on-one attending exposure with graduated responsibility.
Graduate ready to hit the ground running in any practice environment from a county level I trauma center to a single coverage rural ED or a high powered university hospital.
Supervision and teaching of medical students from a top medical school and other high caliber residents
Residency graduates have gone all over the country to become leaders in academic and community practice.

Outstanding clinical teaching faculty

All three hospitals are staffed with amazing clinician-educators, many of whom are nationally recognized educators and who are invited to teach EM attendings at national and international conferences.
The faculties of the four Stanford/Kaiser program hospitals have been recruited from a diverse array of emergency residencies ensuring that Stanford/Kaiser residents are exposed to multiple practice styles.

Fun and effective educational opportunities

Conferences: fun, educational, and informal.

Modular curriculum: the conference topics for a month are grouped according to subject areas and national on-line tests to facilitate learning.
Building on the strengths of training at a top teaching hospital, we often invite faculty from other departments to comment on cases or lecture on topics of mutual interest.
Monthly EM/ICU conference, EM/Trauma, EM/Peds, and EM/Internal Medicine case conferences done in collaboration with these services.
Grand rounds speakers from across the country are invited once a month.

Simulation Stanford is a leader in medical simulation, being the home of the first medical simulation program. Our residency leadership has just secured increased funding for more simulation which we are very excited about.

High fidelity adult and pediatric simulators create a very realistic educational experience

Ultrasound

Orientation 2-day workshop that will teach everything you need to know to get started.
Ongoing workshops as part of conference curriculum
Each hospital uses ultrasound in the ED. For example, you will use one of the 4 Sonosites everyday you work in the Stanford ED.
We have an awesome ultrasound director, Sarah Williams (a graduate of our residency and ultrasound fellowship), who will ensure that you are not only ACEP-certified, but use ultrasound for cutting edge applications such as nerve blocks, cardiac and orbital evaluation, and more.

Cadaver labs

Become comfortable with thoracostomy tubes/thoracotomies, central lines, lumbar punctures, NG tubes, and catheters before having to do them on real patients.

Month long orientation

Bond with fellow interns: volleyball, happy hours, trip to Tahoe, get settled in your new home
Get brought up to speed with interactive workshops on approach to common ED complaints, EKG and radiology interpretation, procedure labs, ultrasound, ACLS, ATLS, NRP

Airway lab: Practice fiberoptic intubations, glide scope, bougie, lighted stylet, intubating LMA and other airway devices.
Journal Club: Once a month we go keep up to date on the literature through informal and informative discussions at an attending’s house or restaurant. Dr. Garmel always manages to pick articles that will somehow change our practice. Joint journal clubs with surgery, internal medicine and pediatrics are highlights.
Rosen’s Club: a monthly informal gathering of residents at hosted by at a different resident’s house each month

Pot-luck dinner and lots of socializing
Go over topics covered in the monthly modular curriculum led by one of the R3 chief residents.
Keeps interns more involved in EM while spending time on off-service rotations

Excellent off-service rotations chosen from the best services of each of the four hospitals

Learn from outstanding faculty and residents from these top teaching institutions

Senior directed curriculum: once a month conferences dedicated for the R3’s that focus on timely topics such as job search, financial planning, billing, and practice management
Research curriculum: given by Dr. James Quinn, an internationally known EM researcher, who distills the basics of research methodology and stastistics in an ongoing curriculum through all three years integrated into monthly journal club sessions.
Electives

Toxicology, peds anesthesia, EMS, wilderness and international medicine experiences, and anything else under the sun.

ACEP conference attendance as an R3. Time and funding are granted for R1s and R2 for committee involvement or presentations.

Vast opportunities

Research

Full time research director
Full time research coordinator
Lane Medical Library: you can access every journal conceivable online, as well as the top EM textbooks.
Synergistic research collaborations with other departments such as: Trauma Surgery, Cardiology, Pediatrics, Neurology, and Health Services Research.
Access to the resources of the Kaiser research unit in Oakland and the Northern California Database. You pose a question and the statisticians will help you crunch the numbers.
Examples of recent resident projects include:

Patient and provider perspectives on personal electronic medical records on emergency care
National survey of ED directors on priorities for preventive health services
The correlation between measuring internal jugular diameter by ultrasound for estimating central venous pressure
Evaluation of an ultrasensitive point of care troponin test
Evaluation of a measure of thigh diameter and length for estimating weight of ED patients
Study of national trends in reimbursement rates for emergency services
Evaluation of “layperson” provision and utilization of emergency services

Medical Education

Ample opportunities to teach in medical students from one of the best med schools in the country, as well as EMS, and nursing staff.

International

Active projects in India, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Nepal, and Guatemala.

For example, Dr. Mahadevan (“Maha”) is helping to roll out a national emergency medicine training initiative in India.
Kelly Murphy makes annual missions to Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, & soon in Ethiopia and provides basic health care for a substantial rural population with no other access to care. R2's & R3’s are always invited to come. A new resident project coordinator is needed annually.
Work at the base camp of Mount Everest in Nepal
Work in rural hospital ED in Guatemala and provide training to local medical staff
Residents have served as expediton doctors to places such as Africa and Mongolia

Dr. Mahadevan oversees an international EM fellowship, facilitating more opportunities for interested residents.
Stanford Medical Center offers a monthly seminar for all residents intrerested in Global Health

Community Service

Resident initiated projects have been initiated that fulfill the administrative and educational project requirement. For example, one resident developed a fall prevention program that sends an occupational therapist to make a home visit for patients that have been in the ED for a preventable fall.

Administrative

Access to the medical directors of three different emergency departments
By completing an administrative project you will hone skills that will increase your desirability in the job market.

Wilderness Medicine

This residency has the most robust faculty in the country, and numerous opportunities in wilderness medicine.

Travel to Nepal to conduct research on Mt. Everest’s base camp
Learn from Paul Auerbach, author of the field’s leading text book, "Wilderness Medicine"
Help Bob Norris develop a WHO snakebite care program in India, where more than 45,000 people die from snake bites each year
With an active fellowship, there are always further opportunities for involvement

Ultrasound

Sarah Williams directs the ultrasound fellowship during the 4th year for Stanford/Kaiser residents; some of whom have then gone on to become ultrasound directors at other residencies

Cardiovascular Medicine

Don Schreiber directs a cardiovascular fellowship at Stanford creating many opportunities for residents to get further training and research experience in cardiovascular emergencies. From PE and Acute MI research to cardiac ultrasound and non-invasive cardiac testing, the sky is the limit.

Many residents have coordinated projects with some of Stanford’s internationally renowned cardiologists

EMS

Greg Gilbert directs an EMS fellowship that is closely coordinated with the Santa Clara County EMS which covers the 10th most populous metropolitan areas in the country.
A Stanford Life Flight elective is available for anyone interested in aeromedical medicine.

Sports Medicine

Dan Garza, a Stanford/Kaiser grad and current faculty member, helps direct the Sports Medicine program at Stanford, the top Division I Athletic program in the country. He is also the Chief Medical Physician/team doctor for the San Francisco 49ers.

Health Services Research

Residents have made use of the faculty resources available in the renowned Health Services Department at Stanford resulting in publications published in top health policy journals. Residents also have access to the vast array of public and community health projects through the Kaiser Permanente system.
EM residents can also take the outstanding monthly seminar offered by the hospital called “Health Care Policy, Economics, and Finance for Resident Physicians.” The seminar brings in leaders in the health care sector in the Bay Area.

Amazing place to live

Palo Alto is a vibrant and fun town with great restaurants, cafes, shopping, and nightlife.
The Stanford Advantage:

Free access to amazing campus athletic facilities from the top collegiate athletic program in the country.
You will come across tons of interesting, smart, and motivated people from Stanford’s excellent grad schools and the innovative professional population living in Silicon Valley

Heaven on earth for outdoor enthusiasts: hundreds of running and bike trails, 15 minutes from world class mountain biking, 50 minutes from world class surfing, 3 _ hours to world class skiing in Lake Tahoe, and 4 hours away from pristine Yosemite. The Bay also affords opportunities for sailing, kite surfing, and windsurfing.
60 + vineyards and wineries within 30 miles in the Santa Cruz mountains and 500+ vineyards and wineries 1hr 45 min away in Napa and Sonoma.
San Francisco is only 35 minutes away with abundant restaurants, museums, live performances, and nightlife. Typically, 4-6 residents will choose to live in the city.