The UT Health Sciences College of Medicine – Chattanooga proudly offers an ACGME-accredited Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fellowship.
This is the first accredited EMS fellowship in Tennessee and continues to be a valuable learning opportunity for physicians interested in pre-hospital
medicine and transport medicine.
The fellowship is a one-year program covering all aspects of EMS practice.
Each section of the program emphasizes a different aspect of EMS with related readings
and text assignments, including:
-
- Pre-hospital experience: major time in the pre-hospital response and setting
- Didactic sessions: held weekly to discuss each topic and facilitated by core faculty
- Journal Club: organized and presented by the fellow and held at a faculty member's house or as
a night out with faculty (depending on work schedules)
- Mentorship: by assigned core faculty mentors
Fellows are also expected to continue practicing clinically (a monthly obligation
of four clinical shifts) in the ED at Erlanger Health System.
The monthly schedule is flexible to meet the individual fellow’s needs. After completing
all orientation and training, the fellow typically has most monthly meetings on Tuesday
mornings, a 12-hour flight shift on Wednesdays, and weekly didactics on Thursday mornings.
All other days are free for ground response with Hamilton County EMS, research/teaching,
responding to SWAT or search and rescue calls, or additional ED shifts (with pay)
as desired. Weekends are usually free unless working in the ED or on a call-out.
LifeForce
LifeForce is one of the leading air medical services in the Chattanooga region. They operate
six aircraft covering much of east Tennessee and north Georgia, as well as portions
of western North Carolina and northern Alabama, an area encompassing over 25,000 square
miles. The airframes currently in use are the EC-135 and the Bell 407. The entire
service completes over 3,000 missions yearly, and they operate at the highest standards
of critical care transport. Some of the program's highlights include IFR capable aircraft,
blood and plasma carried on every flight, and portable ultrasound capabilities.
The EMS fellow takes a very active role with LifeForce as both an assistant medical
director and a flight physician. After orientation training, he/she is considered
a full crew member and flies not as a third rider but as one of the primary providers,
usually with an experienced flight nurse as a partner. He/she will typically fly one
12-hour shift per week. Assistant medical director activities consist of active involvement
in the quality assurance process including chart reviews and attending monthly quality
meetings, protocol and procedure development, and providing training to flight crews.
Those with a strong interest in air medical services will truly find the experiences
they need to continue working with air medical services in the future.
EMS Elective
Residents also have a great opportunity for exposure to air medical services. An established
elective with LifeForce involves several shifts of "third rider" observation time
as well as exposure to the quality assurance and provider training and education.
Senior residents (late PGY-2 or PGY-3) with a particular interest can participate
in an optional program to achieve flight physician status and take shifts on the helicopter
in addition to their regular ED requirements.
