During high school and college, students are encouraged to volunteer at a local emergency room or hospital. After graduating high school, students must attend a four-year college or university. Good grades and high scores on admission examinations are needed to enter medical school, according to ExploreHealthCareers.com.
Medical school is a four-year program where students learn clinical and basic science skills. Students spend the first two years in the classroom learning basic sciences. The last two years are spent in the hospital and clinics learning the clinical skills needed as a physician, according to the AAMC. Most schools offer a rotation in emergency medicine so students can gain exposure to the fast pace of the emergency room. Selection to an emergency medicine residency is very competitive, so good grades and letters of recommendation are necessary.
Residency is usually three to four years of clinical training where residents are provided an environment to gain skills as a physician. The resident physician will rotate through many different departments, including the emergency room. Each program may differ provide a different curriculum. Residents who train at John Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine will rotate on pediatrics, intensive care units, obstetrics, ophthalmology, the burn unit and poison control. With each year of residency, the resident physician gains more patient responsibility and supervision of lower-level residents.
After completing residency, physicians can begin working independently in the emergency department or begin advanced sub-specialty training. There are several one to two year sub-specialty fellowships available in emergency medicine. Certification is available in pediatric emergency medicine, toxicology, sports medicine and undersea and hyperbaric Medicine. Other fellowships are offered such as critical care, disaster, administration and EMS.
Emergency medicine training is extensive and takes several years to complete. After emergency medicine physicians are board certified, they must be re-certified every ten years. Emergency medicine physicians also have many options for advanced training to satisfy each individual's academic interests.