Department of
Emergency Medicine

Clinical Rotations

Program Highlights

The WVU Emergency Medicine Residency program uses a 13 block schedule where each block consists of 28 day rotations, allowing our program additional elective opportunities and increased EM exposure throughout residency training. 

PGY 1

  • Early, consistent EM exposure throughout intern year

    • 5 blocks at WVU Ruby Memorial, 1 block at our community site (UHC) and a block of PEM/EMS for nearly six months of EM experience during PGY1    
    • July orientation month for interns
      • Reduced clinical shifts
      • Social outings (bowling, welcome party, picnics/hiking, sporting events)
      • Weekly structured didactics designed for interns
      • Hands on clinical skills workshops (slit lamp, intubation, suturing, ECG interpretation, ultrasound)
      • Make you comfortable feeling like a doctor
  • Ultrasound integrated throughout the curriculum
  • Critical care exposure during intern year—our interns do a block of both MICU and PICU​
    • Early critical care experience, with appropriate supervision, to make you comfortable taking care of sick patient

PGY 2/3

PGY 2 is highlighted by 6 blocks in the WVU/Ruby ED, 1 block of night float in the WVU/Ruby ED, 2 blocks of Community EM at UHC, 2 elective blocks, and highly rated critical care experiences in the MICU and SICU at WVU/Ruby.
PGY3 helps you prepare to be ready on day 1 for anything that attendinghood throws at you with 8 blocks in the WVU/Ruby ED, a block of night float in the WVU/Ruby ED, an elective opportunity, 2 blocks of community EM at UHC, and a PICU rotation at WVUMedicine Childrens (attached to the main hospital—no fellows on this rotation, so you are the primary caregiver for critically ill infants and children)

***25% of all shifts (4 per block) in all years of our clinical curriculum while at WVU/Ruby are in our Pediatric ED—allowing for longitudinal exposure to undifferentiated pediatric patients, which can have seasonal variations in presentation—(trauma in the summer, croup/RSV in the fall and winter, etc)
Why do you do night float in EM at WVU in PGY2 and PGY3?
We value your wellness and ability to enjoy time out of work while also maximizing educational opportunities that prepare you to work in any type of emergency department and care for any patient after graduation. When the WVUM Children's Hospital opened in 2022, we wanted to find a way to maintain our longitudinal exposure to pediatric patients without increasing the overall shift number per block for residents in the WVU/Ruby ED (our primary site). Night float allows us to do just that—with 2 residents covering the majority of the night shifts in the main ED each block, the other residents flip their schedules much less often—allowing us to honor schedule requests, work shifts in the Peds ED and ensure the main ED is covered while not increasing the overall number of shifts (average 16-18 per block at WVU/Ruby, but can vary). Our night float system has the night float residents cover the senior shifts in the ED Sunday-Wednesday nights, allowing them to have a golden weekend every weekend during night float (off Thurs-Fri-Sat).'

What can I do for my electives?
During your EM elective options in both PGY2 and PGY3 years, we have abundant opportunities for flexible and personalized electives, including but not limited to, administrative EM, medical education focused electives, international EM, research, palliative Care, research, teaching month, focused intensive care month, REMI opportunities, simulation elective, etc. You also have the opportunity to create your own elective experiences with EM faculty oversight