Although the program strives to have diversification in every entering class, applicants with ties to South Carolina are given additional consideration with regard to being invited to interview with the program. Regardless, over the years we have had residents from more than 35 states. We are always looking for the best candidates for our program.

Yes, every interview season applicants are encouraged to schedule observation time in the Emergency Department to provide insight into the program.

Approximately 40 percent of each class is composed of residents who rotated in our emergency department as medical students.

Yes.

Yes, the program has had osteopathic physicians in nearly every graduating class.

We do accept applications from international medical graduates (IMG) who are US citizens or have J-1 visas.

Although a part two score on either USMLE or COMLEX is desirable for application to the program, it is not required. However, ultimately, all residents at Prisma Health Richland are required to pass parts one & two of the USMLE prior to matriculation into our program.

Three letters of recommendation, in addition to the dean's letter, are required. One of these letters should be from an emergency medicine physician with whom you have worked in an emergency department setting. We encourage you to submit more than one letter from an emergency physician and also will accept more than three total letters of recommendation if they are available.

36 months in a PGY 1, 2, 3 format.

ACLS, PALS, and ATLS provider certifications

Currently, Emergency Medicine residents rotate for 108 weeks (27 months) at Prisma Health Richland in the Emergency department. During the PGY-3 years, four weeks are spent working at Palmetto Health Baptist in downtown Columbia. These shifts are integrated into the regular EM shift schedule.

PGY 1 and PGY 2 residents work 19 to 21 shifts per four-week block (average 50 hours per week). PGY 3 residents work 15 to 17 shifts per four-week block (average of 40 hours per week).

Residents work a combination of nine and 12 hour shifts. Approximately 60 percent of shifts are nine hours in length.

By the end of their training, residents will see two to two-and-one-half patients per hour. During shifts with lower acuity patients, residents may see up to three patients per hour.

None of the off-service rotations currently have call shifts. ICU rotations utilize day and night shifts.

Yes, residents usually have one to two days of home call while on emergency medicine rotations. Residents are required to come in for colleagues who are sick from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. (however, this is a very rare occurrence).

The average call schedule for rotations with call is every fourth night. All rotations comply with the new ACGME standards for work duty hours.

Residents will average about one-third of their shifts in the Children's Emergency Center during each emergency medicine rotation. This works out to approximately 100 shifts over the three-year residency.

We have an excellent reputation in the hospital for providing efficient, quality care to patients. Therefore, residents find the vast majority of consultants eager to provide care to Emergency Department patients.

Yes, ultrasound is an integral part of Emergency Medicine training at Prisma Health Richland. All residents complete an introductory course in emergency ultrasound before they start working in the emergency department. In addition, two weeks of the intern year are dedicated to emergency ultrasound training with more than 20 hours of lectures. Residents are required to log at least 300 cases during their residency training. Case reviews are routinely conducted by the faculty of the emergency ultrasound fellowship. The department has a total of seven ultrasound systems available for use by residents and staff.

Yes, the hospital's air ambulance service, LifeNet, provides rapid air transport to the critically ill and injured, as well as transport from accident scenes and inter-facility transfers for patients needing additional medical resources. Residents are allowed to ride with LifeNet.

Yes, residents may ride along during any year of their training. An elective also is available for PGY 3 residents.

Evaluations are completed on a semi-annual basis and are reviewed with the program director and the resident's advisor. Emergency Medicine residents receive composite written evaluations from the Emergency Department faculty and their peers.

You can watch a video that summarizes the evaluation process by CLICKING HERE.

Residents complete an evaluation form online for each off-service rotation. These evaluations are compiled and then discussed at the annual curriculum meeting.

Yes, each year all residents attend a curriculum meeting to discuss every component of the program and how to improve the training. Several changes to the rotation schedule have been made based on recommendations from this meeting.

1. Advanced Ultrasound
2. Aeromedical EMS
3. Critical Care
4. Dentistry
5. ED Administration
6. Global Health
7. Ophthalmology
8. Medical-Legal Aspects of High-Risk Practice
9. Pediatric Anesthesia
10. Radiology
11. Research
12. Sports Medicine
13. Toxicology
14. Wilderness Medicine

All residents on Emergency Medicine, EMS/ultrasound, and on-campus elective rotations are required to attend weekly conference.

Conferences are scheduled from 7-11AM on Wednesdays. One additional hour of conference time each week is done through online education modules.

Residents coming off a night shift are allowed to leave at 9:00AM.

Approximately 70 percent of conferences are presented by emergency medicine faculty members. The other 30 percent are presented by faculty from other departments or EM residents.

ECG interpretation, Infectious Disease, Journal Club, M & M, Oral Boards, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Personal Finance, Quality Improvement, Simulation Medicine, Toxicology, Trauma Conference, and Ultrasound.

Several conferences are provided on personal finance. In addition, retreats are conducted for each class and include topics on personal finance and the business of medicine.

Skill labs are conducted at the simulation medicine center at beginning of internship as well as other times during residency training.

The Simulation Medicine Center on thePrisma Health Richland campus. The center's director is an emergency medicine faculty member, Dr. Chris Gainey. The center has more than 10,000 square feet of service areas and is capable of simulating nearly any medical emergency or procedure for resident education. Residents work in the center one time each month when they are on emergency medicine rotations.

Every PGY 2 and PGY 3 resident gives one lecture per year for the paramedic training course of Richland County EMS. All residents are assigned topics for regularly scheduled "Lightening Rounds." These are 15-to-20-minute lectures on cutting-edge topics.  

Most medical students shadow PGY 2 and PGY 3 residents in the emergency department and present cases directly to them. Three PGY 3 residents are appointed as assistant directors of medical student education and are responsible for coordinating the majority of medical student activities in the department for each academic year.

The Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine requires the completion of a scholarly project by each resident. This requirement may be met by completing original research or by participating in a scholarly project approved by the program’s director of research and scholarly activity. Examples of suitable projects include quality-improvement initiatives, original research, case reports, and book chapters among others.

Grants up to $7500 are awarded each year by the office of Graduate Medical Education at Prisma Health. Additional funding is provided for travel expenses to residents who are invited to present their research at appropriate conferences.

The program is located at a community-based academic hospital with 650 total beds. Prisma Health Richland is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the 16-county Midlands region of South Carolina. The hospital is the primary teaching facility for the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia.

In the Emergency Department, there are a total of 63 individual rooms divided into smaller treatment areas referred to as ZONES.

Included in these areas are:

• 2 trauma bays
• 14-bed critical care zone
• 20-bed urgent care zone
• 14-bed children's emergency center
• 10-bed mental health zone

The annual patient census is more than 96,000 patient visits each year (more than 30,000 of these patients are children).

We admit over thirty percent of our patients, and more than half of all admissions go to critical care beds.

There is a separate zone for pediatric patients with 13 beds, as well as a resuscitation room. The current pediatric census is more than 30,000 patients per year. We have three attendings trained in pediatrics.

All trauma patients with a significant mechanism of injury are managed in tandem with the trauma service. However, in every situation, the EM resident manages the airway in addition to other procedures. The EM residents spend eight weeks on the Surgical & Trauma Intensive Care Unit service and are exposed to a wide range of traumatic injuries.

ABGs are finished within minutes. Most other blood and urine studies are available in less than 30 minutes.

There are three CT scanners adjacent to the emergency department. Prisma Health Richland offers a complete array of radiologic services including MR and interventional radiology. Turnaround times are continuously monitored to improve efficiency.

During their PGY-2 year, residents work approximately 25 shifts at Prisma Health Baptist Medical Center in downtown Columbia or Prisma Health Parkridge in the suburb of Irmo. 

All other rotations are completed at Prisma Health Richland. Elective rotations may occur off-campus.

Prisma Health Richland is two and one-half miles from PH Baptist and eleven miles from PH Parkridge.

There are 26 full-time staff members. 

• All are certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
• Two faculty physicians are boarded in toxicology.
• Four faculty physicians are boarded in EMS.
• Two faculty physicians are board-certified in PEM.
• Four faculty physicians are fellowship-trained in global health.
• One faculty physician is fellowship-trained in emergency ultrasound.
• One faculty physician is fellowship-trained in simulation medicine.

The average experience of all the faculty members is more than 15 years. The chairman has practiced since 1999 and has occupied his position since 2020. The program director has been practicing since 1990 and has held the position since 2001. 

There are 105 hours of attending coverage per 24-hour day. Residents staff all patients directly with attending physicians. 

The program pays each resident's dues to the Resident - Student Association (RSA) of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the South Carolina Medical Association.

All three classes receive an educational stipend during their training. This money can be used for educational materials such as subscriptions or textbooks. It can also be used to attend educational conferences or cover the costs associated with global health work.

• PGY 1 residents receive $500.
• PGY 2 residents receive $1000.
• PGY 3 residents receive $1500.

Residents are allowed to start during the second half of the PGY-2 year. Each resident who is moonlighting must be in good standing with the program and have completed all other residency-related assignments. Currently, most residents moonlight at one of two emergency departments managed by graduates of our program.

Residents are allowed to moonlight an average of 40 hours per month.

Hourly rates for moonlighting are approximately $150 per hour.

The first-time pass rate in the written test component of the ABEM certification exam is 100 percent (64 of 64) from 2019 to 2022.

The first-time pass rate in the oral test component of the ABEM certification exam is 98 percent (60 of 61) from 2018 to 2022.

No. Emergency medicine specialists trained at our facility are in high demand.

Approximately 20 percent of graduates do fellowship training. Other graduates have pursued clinical practice in a mix of urban and rural locations.

The majority of graduates go on to practice in the Southeast region of the country, but we have graduates who relocated to more than 30 states.

Since 2006, 19 residents have gone on to fellowship training. 

• Academic Emergency Medicine - 1
• Emergency Ultrasound - 8
• EMS - 12
• Global Health - 7
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine - 3
• Resuscitation - 2
• Simulation Medicine - 5
• Toxicology - 3

• Sports Medicine (sponsored by family medicine)
• Emergency Ultrasound
• EMS
• Global Health
• Simulation Medicine
• Critical Care (sponsored by Internal Medicine)