U.S. allopathic emergency medicine residency programs: a descriptive review.

OBJECTIVE: To use collected data from all 124 allopathic emergency medicine residency (EMR) programs in existence in 2001 to describe allopathic EMR training programs in the United States.

METHODS: The authors performed a cross-sectional review of all 124 EMRs using self-reported, standardized data from regularly updated sources: the SAEM Residency Catalog and the AMA's FREIDA (Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access). The authors report median values, ranges, and interquartile ranges (IQRs) on a variety of variables.

RESULTS: Median values for EMR programs included a class size of 10 per year; a total faculty-to-resident ratio of 0.78 (1:1.29); an annual primary emergency department (ED) census of 66,000 (IQR = 53,000 to 80,000), with an annual combined primary and secondary ED census of 95,500 (IQR = 75,000 to 126,000); a combined pediatric census of 20,000 (IQR = 15,000 to 32,500) at the primary and secondary sites; an annual combined ED visit per resident of 3,181 (IQR = 2,542 to 3,949), including 733 pediatric visits per resident, at the primary and secondary sites; an admission rate of 20% (IQR = 17% to 23%); and an intensive care unit admission rate of 13% (IQR = 5% to 20%). Despite a wide variability in ranges and IQR in most characteristics pertaining to training setting, the overall reported completion rate of training for residents was high (99%).

CONCLUSIONS: This summary description provides median values and ranges for important components of the emergency medicine training environment and provides a basis of comparison for medical students and graduate medical educators.