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.