The University of Pittsburgh Emergency Medicine Residency offers its trainees superb exposure and training in all aspects of contemporary prehospital care, a central and critical area of emergency practice. The residency program is integral to the operations of the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, one of the premier prehospital care systems in the United States.
City of Pittsburgh Public Safety
City of Pittsburgh paramedics respond to more than 65,000 calls annually, of which about 5% require orders from a medical command physician. Of these, approximately 6,000 are trauma cases, and 350 are cardiac arrests. Approximately 160 full-time professional paramedics operate the system's 16 paramedic units and two fully equipped rescue vehicles. Dedicated EMT units provide BLS-level care, and the City of Pittsburgh Fire Bureau personnel serve as medical first-responders to all high-priority calls.
City of Pittsburgh EMS also provides river rescue, hazmat, and tactical EMS Services. The system's medical director and associate medical directors are residency faculty, and all emergency medicine faculty are certified medical command physicians. The program firmly believes that a working knowledge of prehospital care and emergency medical services cannot be gained solely in the classroom but must also be acquired in the community. As such, a unique prehospital care rotation has been developed for second- and third-year residents.
A resident is always in radio contact with the system's dispatcher. Monitored online by a faculty command physician, the resident gives orders to City paramedics and, if necessary, responds on-scene to direct the patient's care in person. This level of hands-on resident involvement is unique to our program. Didactic material designed to supplement this experience familiarizes the resident with the administrative, logistic, and operational aspects of an emergency medical services system. The opportunity to work closely with one of the finest prehospital care systems in the world offers trainees an unrivaled experience, many of whom go on to assume leadership roles in EMS.
STAT MedEvac
STAT MedEvac, a service of the UPMC Center for Emergency Medicine, provides air medical transport for patients with critical illness and/or injuries. It is the nation's largest academic, nonprofit critical care transport group. STAT MedEvac operates 23 helicopters at 19 rotor-wing bases and 3 ground critical care bases across 4 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. STAT MedEvac flight crews complete over 13,000 scene runs and inter-facility transport missions each year, serving over 300 hospitals and 600 EMS agencies. Medical oversight is provided by four medical directors, all of whom are Pitt EMS faculty and graduates of our EMS Fellowship.
Residents play a major role in the program by serving as flight physicians alongside critical care flight nurses and flight paramedics during interhospital transports and scene runs. This outstanding opportunity offers residents a unique experience in emergency transport and critical care, with exposure to emergency medical systems operating in urban, suburban, and rural environments. Residents also participate in specialized transports that involve intra-aortic balloon pumps, ECMO, and left ventricular assist devices.
Special Events
Providing medical coverage for mass-gathering events is an integral part of emergency medicine training. The City of Pittsburgh offers a wealth of opportunities for residents to gain this experience. In addition to providing daily medical command for the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS, residents cover University of Pittsburgh football games, Pittsburgh Steelers football, the Pittsburgh Marathon, the Pittsburgh Great Race, major professional Golf Outings, and the Three Rivers Regatta. Rock concerts also require medical coverage!
