Big Picture | Curriculum Overview | Future Plans
Mission Statement
To create a free, open-access, comprehensive Emergency Medicine curriculum that serves as the educational gold standard within our specialty.
Curriculum Overview
Foundations of Emergency Medicine is a year-long course specifically designed for intern level learners. It is intended to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding cardinal presentations, “can’t miss” diagnoses and essential management strategies within the EM Model of Clinical Practice.
Asynchronous Learning Pathways
Using a flipped classroom approach, Foundations provides Learning Pathways for self-directed review of core EM content. Various high yield text and multimedia resources, assigned in digestible doses, cater to diverse learning styles. This independent study allows in-person instructional time to be used for active learning and application of knowledge within a practice-based model.
Foundations Meetings
The cornerstone of this course involves weekly Foundations Meetings, in which interns are expected to make use of acquired knowledge and skills through small group patient cases and oral boards style review. These meetings provide the opportunity for assessment of intern knowledge, directed feedback and review of fundamental learning points. Meetings may include an optional and supplemental longitudinal EKG Fundamentals curriculum.
Curriculum Access
In line with the FOAMed movement, this is a not-for-profit venture. All course materials will be available to anyone who is interested in using Foundations to learn or teach fundamental knowledge within our practice. Asynchronous assignments and other learning materials are openly available on this site. Course planning and didactic materials, including all Foundations Meeting oral boards style cases, can be provided to any interested EM educator upon request.
A Bright Future
Over the past two years, Foundations of Emergency Medicine has been instituted at Northwestern University and Emory University. It has been met with high levels of engagement and enthusiasm by intern learners and faculty instructors alike. This year Foundations will be launched at 18(+) new sites around the country. The short term focus will be on successful growth of the existing intern curriculum. Future plans include developing additional Emergency Medicine curriculum resources, including (but not limited to) shared procedure bootcamps, ED radiology review, advanced EKG review and similar curriculums focused on MS4, PGY2 and PGY3/4 learners.