Two UA Emergency Medicine Programs Earn 10-Year Accreditation

March 4, 2013
Two academic physician training programs at The University of Arizona Medical Center – South Campus are the latest programs in the nation to gain accreditation for a 10-year cycle, to advance the quality of graduate medical education for physicians.   
 
The emergency medicine and toxicology programs are both academically and clinically a part of the University of Arizona’s Department of Emergency Medicine at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
The clinical sites include:
  • The University of Arizona Medical Center (UAMC) - University Campus is a Level One trauma center where UA Department of Emergency Medicine physicians see more than 70,000 patients annually.
  • The University of Arizona Medical Center (UAMC) - South Campus, where UA Department of Emergency Medicine physicians see more than 40,000 patients annually.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is a private, non-profit council that evaluates and accredits more than 9,000 residency programs in 135 specialties and subspecialties in the United States.  The UAMC – South Campus resident training programs have been accredited through the ACGME’s Next Accreditation System ( NAS), an enhanced peer-review system developed to improve health care in the United States by assessing and advancing the quality of graduate medical education for physicians in training through accreditation.
 
The UA Department of Emergency Medicine, led by Samuel Keim, MD, MSc, is the only resident training program in the nation to offer three residency options: the UAMC – South Campus emergency medicine residency program, the UAMC – University Campus emergency medicine residency program and the combined emergency medicine and pediatric residency program.
 
Residents train alongside UA Department of Emergency Medicine faculty who are internationally recognized physicians with expertise in toxicology, sports medicine, emergency medical services, education, research, critical care, global health, ultrasound, simulation and disaster preparedness.
 
Working to clinically train tomorrow’s physicians both within the hospital setting and academically, the UA emergency medicine faculty and residents have authored more than 500 publications with faculty receiving several million dollars in grants and contracts.
 
"The accreditation is the result of our opportunity to create an outstanding emergency medicine residency program that combines excellent academics with a focus on rural and global health," said Kristi J.H. Grall, MD, MHPE, director of the UAMC – South Campus Residency Program.
 
Farshad “Mazda” Shirazi, MD, PhD, who directs the UAMC – South Campus Medical Toxicology Fellowship , said, “We have an outstanding toxicology fellowship training program that accepts fellows from pediatrics, emergency medicine, family practice, psychiatry and internal medicine."
 
The Medical Toxicology Fellowship is a two-year collaborative training program among UAMC –University campus, UAMC – South Campus and the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center.