Location: Chandler, AZ

​

Number of Residents Per Year: 8

​​

Year Established: 2023

​​

Primary Training Sites:

Chandler Regional Medical Center:

Chandler Regional Medical Center (CRMC) is a thriving medical center that has grown into one of the largest acute care hospitals in the Phoenix metro area. CRMC is a 429-bed facility that provides care to the greater East Valley, and serves as a major referral center for communities of the eastern part of the state. The ED comprises 60+ beds and provides care to over 70,000 ED patients annually. It is a comprehensive stroke center, a STEMI/PCI capable center, and is one of the busiest trauma centers in the state of Arizona with over 5,000 trauma activations per year. 

​

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center:

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center (MGMC) is a sister facility to CRMC located in the rapidly growing area of Gilbert, Arizona, and supplements our primary clinical site as a community setting. The ED sees over 45,000 visits/year, is a STEMI and stroke center, and provides care for a wide variety of medical and surgical presentations. It is a level 3 trauma trauma. It is the site of the soon to be opened Dignity Health/Phoenix Children's hospital, such that we’ll have on-site pediatric EM. 

​

Phoenix Children’s Hospital:

Phoenix Children's Hospital (PCH) is one of the largest comprehensive pediatric medical centers in the United States, and one of only 24 in the country to rank in all 10 surveyed specialties for 2020-2021. With their main campus located in downtown Phoenix, our residents rotate in a longitudinal fashion (two shifts every EM block) as well as complete dedicated PEM blocks at downtown PCH.

​

EM Subspecialty Exposure (EMS, Toxicology, Ultrasound, etc.)

Our residency values exposure to multiple subspecialty areas both for exposure for possible fellowships in the future as well as to ensure a broad educational curriculum to ensure the best training possible. Specific subspecialty areas of exposure include:

• EMS: Chandler Regional and Mercy Gilbert are the base stations for multiple EMS agencies, and as such our residents have exposure both on shift by participating in medical direction as well as off shift through our longitudinal EMS curriculum and 2 week EMS rotation with our on-site EMS director. We do an annual EMS day, where we attend the training facilities and work collaboratively with EMS and fire directors to learn about their fields.

• Palliative Care: All residents complete a unique 2 week Palliative care/Hospice of the Valley rotation to emphasize the important yet undertaught skillset of end of life and palliative / hospice care and how it applies to our work in the ED. 

• Toxicology: We have a monthlong rotation at Banner University where our residents learn from world class toxicologists adjacent to the Phoenix Poison Center.

• Medical Education/Simulation: Being that our program leadership and simulation director completed fellowships in these areas, we allow for an elective during PGY2 or 3 year that allows for further advanced training in med ed and sim. We also emphasize teaching as one of our core program cultural aspects.

• POCUS: Residents complete a unique longitudinal POCUS curriculum, with at least 1 shift dedicated during every EM block to POCUS as well as a dedicated rotation during the first 6 months of intern year. Throughout residency, learners are required to complete a minimum of 400 creditable scans. In addition, residents complete concept-specific written examinations, as well as two proctored practical exams that assess their ability to scan a patient from start to finish. 

• Critical Care: Residents work in the medical ICU, where they work with some physicians who are EM/Crit Care trained as well as our pulmonary and critical care intensivists 

• Rural EM: We have multiple rotations through Indian Health Services where residents rotate on site at Gila River and Fort Defiance medical centers to learn more about caring for indigenous populations in a rural or under-resourced setting.

Lastly, our program has a number of fellowship trained core faculty, including in Point-of-Care Ultrasound, Medical Education and Simulation, EMS, and Pediatric EM.

 

Fellowships Offered (if any): 

None currently, however we are actively working towards fellowship development in areas including POCUS, EMS, and Medical Education/Simulation

 

What Makes Your Program Unique or Special?

Clinical Excellence in a Hybrid Community/Academic ED: Our ED serves a large, diverse catchment area and will truly prepare you for any environment you want to work in. By nature of being a busy Level 1 trauma center, we ensure residents have a broad exposure to both a high volume and high acuity ED with an emphasis on efficiency while also providing excellence in clinical care and strong support. We have robust pediatric EM and rural EM integrated in a way that amplifies our primary clinical site. We have an AMAZING culture within our nursing and ED staff who make our lives easier and better every day. We have very low boarding, which helps to provide safe and high quality patient care. We get frequent feedback on our clinical faculty and their dedication to teaching, such that residents are pushed but also feel supported!

 

Innovative Education: At CUEVA, we truly embody the idea that active learning allows for residents to be more engaged and learn at a higher level. We do multiple modalities of learning, including small group, round robin sessions, monthly procedural and simulation hands-on training, as well as various games to teach core and advanced content. Our education and simulation faculty are extremely creative, and our didactics are an example for other programs to innovate. We have an asynchronous curriculum that uses various high quality tools including Rosh Review, EM Coach, RapidRads, and EKG Stampede. 

 

Individualized Education, Family Feel: We truly value each person in our program as individuals, in line with our missions of compassion and community. We work hard to ensure residents have personalized mentorship and support, and feel everyone has growth opportunities as well as areas they excel in and are on a unique path. We collect data to compile “coaching worksheets” to personalize our resident’s education and feedback as much as possible in line with Competency-Based Medical Education. We really want our residents to feel included and supported as a group as well, and work hard to ensure they have multiple opportunities to not only work together but do outside events together. We have raised a significant amount of money for our program through an annual residency fundraising event to support things such as our intern and faculty retreats, class day off, the Difficult Airway course, and more.

​

How Do You Support Resident Wellness?

We recognize the rigors of EM training, and we have set up the program culture to incorporate wellbeing as an important component in line with the day and age. We not only have a specific Core Faculty focused on Wellbeing and our wellness curriculum, but also have a wellness committee and faculty and peer mentorship support program with funding to allow for “family” events and class days off. Day-to-day perks include access to free food in a resident-only lounge, great salary and benefits, 3 pairs of scrubs and residency jackets, memberships to SAEM, EMRA, and AAEM, annual conference travel funding, a generous education stipend, as well as coverage for Step or COMLEX 3 (and more).

 

What Qualities Do You Value in Applicants to Your Program?

Residents looking to be successful in our program will be conscientious people who are professional and highly self motivated with a strong work ethic. They will be seeking to cultivate their leadership and educational skills while also being academically strong. One thing we cannot “train” but expect is that you are a good person who cares about each other and your patients. We value inclusivity and cohesiveness as a group, being that we are not a very large program.

 

MS4 Sub-Internship opportunities:

Applicants may apply to our MS4 Sub-Internship through VSLO starting in late March. We offer four to five spots per rotation, and each rotation lasts four weeks. This experience is designed for fourth-year medical students pursuing a career in EM and provides a comprehensive introduction to the specialty. Students will work one-on-one with clinical faculty and residents, engage in a robust educational curriculum, and receive personalized coaching to prepare them for success in future rotations and as incoming interns.

 

Our commitment is to provide an Emergency Medicine intern “boot camp” experience that includes clinical shifts with both core and clinical teaching faculty, an EMS ride-along, a dedicated nursing shift, and an ultrasound skills lab. Learners also participate in weekly asynchronous core content, in-person case-based discussions, simulation sessions, and procedural skills training such as laceration repair, airway management, splint placement, and more. In addition, students are fully integrated into resident didactics and invited to participate in social activities, fostering a sense of belonging within the program. This rotation is ideal for motivated and enthusiastic students who are seeking an experience that goes beyond what is traditionally offered in standard Emergency Medicine rotations.