What does your program offer that residents can’t get anywhere else?

Kaweah Health Medical Center is situated in a small city of 150,000, and as the only hospital in the city and only major center in the region, we care for a large catchment area. As such we are the only trauma and STEMI center for a population of approximately 500,000. We care for a medically-underserved population and we consider our connection to our community as one of the main drivers of our mission. Our emergency department (ED) is bursting at the seams with patient volume and acuity. Our residents get real-world, first-hand experience stabilizing and managing patients as there are a limited number of other residencies in the hospital and no fellows in other specialties that would impact the procedural or patient management experience of our residents. Our residents take pride in doing their own orthopedic reductions, engaging with attending-level consultants, feeling comfortable caring for large volumes of sick and injured pediatric patients, and performing rare emergency medicine (EM) procedures such as transvenous pacers, and lateral canthotomies.

We hope to develop not only top-notch EM physicians, but people ready to be leaders wherever they land, so we balance our clinical education with regular discussions of organizational excellence, culture-building, leadership principles and tactics, career longevity, and other high-yield topics.

What is the work-life balance like?

Shifts here are demanding, so we guard our time off fiercely. Our residents have a tight-knit and supportive community within our program and across the other residencies here, as well as with the EM faculty. You’ll frequently find people escaping to the mountains to hike, camp, and mountain bike in the summers and ski in the winter, or to visit one of the three national parks in our backyard. We have amazing access to the beautiful central California coast and world-class cities, while enjoying a reasonable cost of living. Our wellness program is a central part of our residency experience and is supported by GME leadership and our faculty, with highlights such as annual attendance at regional or national conferences, quarterly class wellness days, and monthly wellness challenges with prizes funded by our EM attendings.

How should potential applicants learn more about your program?

Check us out at kaweahem.com or on Instagram @kaweahem.