The Didactic Experience
The Modular System
Dr. Mallon (far right) leading a modular session
Pioneered in the 1970's by Dr. Gerald P. Whelan, the modular curriculum at LAC+USC has been adapted and adopted by other programs across the country and around the world. Constantly evolving to reflect changes in the scope and practice of Emergency Medicine, the modular curriculum serves as the basis for the rigorous clinical experience at LAC+USC. It has also been credited with the residents' consistently strong academic performance. Now based on the American College of Emergency Physicians' Core Content in Emergency Medicine, the curriculum helps ensure that each resident is exposed to all essential areas of the specialty during the course of the residency.
The modules are conducted each Thursday morning before grand rounds. Each residency class meets as a separate subgroup with one or more faculty facilitators to cover an aspect of the core content. The materials used in these sessions are all available on our on-line Webserver and are updated each year. In addition, each resident completes a short on-line quiz (with feedback) related to the materials to be covered in advance to maximize the effectiveness of each session.
Resident Conference
Grand Rounds - Presentations of broad interest or appeal, with frequent appearances by outside speakers from the national and international emergency medicine community. Take a look at this week's grand rounds at http://emcorecontent.com/ Combined EM/Trauma Surgery Rounds - A case presentation with discussion by residents and faculty of both services. Base Station Tape Review - Digital recordings of all of the base station runs managed by MICNs and EM residents form a wealth of material for review. Cases with the most educational value and/or controversy are presented during these sessions.
Morbidity & Mortality Rounds - A presentation of selected cases demonstrating problems of management and documentation, given for their educational value. Ultrasound Review - Using images and video captured from the clinical areas, these sessions involve both a review of core elements of emergency ultrasonography as well as cutting edge topics at the forefront of the subspecialty. Journal Club The department maintains a separation of its educational mission from industry. Journal clubs and all other elements of the didactic curriculum are free of sponsorship from drug or device manufacturers. Approximately once a month, an evening Journal Club is held off campus, usually at faculty member's home. The articles are selected to examine a theme or specific clinical topic and they are discussed by faculty and residents in an organized format. The discussion ends with a summary of how the literature reviewed might affect clinical practice.
Resident Presentations - All residents present at conference at least one during their PGY3 and PGY4 years. The PGY3 case presentation is a brief presentation of a specific clinical dilemma, moderated by the Chief Residents, with broad participation from the audience. The PGY4 talk is a 20 minute review of the evidence pertaining to a given topic or clinical case.eResidency
After the modular sessions, faculty and residents join together for grand rounds and resident conference. Conferences consist of a variety of themed sessions that are designed to complement the core curriculum presented in the modular curriculum. Planning for grand rounds and resident conference occurs months in advance and the faculty and residents pride themselves in delivering the highest quality presentations. Presentations are professionally videotaped and posted on our online webserver for later review as part of our eResidency project which began in July 2007.