UA Combined Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics Residency Training Program
The combined Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics training program is a five-year (60-month) training program that is approved by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics.
This training option was first described in 1988 when both boards agreed to accept training from the opposing specialty, thus allowing a reduction of 12 months from the training process.
Residents who have completed the five-year training program are eligible for both the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics certification exams. The basic premise of the combined training program is to train physicians to be fully competent emergency physicians and fully competent pediatricians.
The University of Arizona accepts up to three outstanding individuals into the combined training per year. Each resident spends 30 months of training in each department.
The resident will rotate between departments in three-month segments. Variation occurs at the beginning of the training year where the resident begins the training year in the same department that was just finished. This results in a once-a-year, six-month stretch in a single department and serves to allow seasonal variation from year to year.
Together, the Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Pediatrics have put together a unique training schedule that emphasizes pediatric care in the emergency setting while fulfilling categorical requirements within the two specialties.
In particular, pediatric emergency care and critical care skills are emphasized beyond that of the categorical programs. As the candidate progresses through training, they assume an increasing role in Pediatric Emergency Medicine didactics, prehospital training, and lastly as chief resident during the final year of training.