On July 1, 1999
the Indiana University School of Medicine established an academic Department
of Emergency Medicine. The reasons to do so were:
1. Establish an academic home for the Emergency Medicine residency training program.
With the creation of Clarian Health Partners in 1997 (consolidation of Methodist,
Indiana University, and Riley Children's Hospitals) oversight of all graduate
medical education training programs was transferred to the Indiana School of
Medicine. The EM residency, having no counterpart at that time on the IU campus,
needed an organizational home.
2. Provide a mechanism to effect the transition of the Wishard Memorial Hospital
(public hospital on the IU campus) Emergency Department from its prior specialty
based triage to an emergency medicine paradigm. This mandated the growth of the
emergency medicine clinical faculty and permitted the expansion of the EM residency
training program.
3. Permit liaison between the Emergency Medicine community and the School of
Medicine. This will allow EM input into the School of Medicine curriculum. It
also carries the obligation of facilitating research programs and faculty development.
The Department has other traditional academic obligations including facilitation
of education, research, and clinical practices. All of these benefit the residency
both directly and indirectly, and allow ongoing evolution and unlimited potential.
The academic department serves as the focal point from which our 2 equal partnered
training sites (Methodist and Wishard ED's) provide their educational and patient
care service missions. The department has created divisions tasked with the oversight
and administration of the department missions in patient care, research and education.
This includes the out of hospital medical care division with operational oversight
of medical care provided by Wishard EMT-P's, the major ALS transporting service
for Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Fire Department (first responders), and multiple
suburban and rural EMS agencies. The education division assumes responsibility
for medical student education, the EM residency and fellowship/faculty development.
The medical toxicology division provides administrative control for the Indiana
Poison Control Center, the inpatient service at Methodist hospital, and the consultation
service for Methodist and Wishard hospitals. The research division provides grants
support, experimental design assistance and oversight of the department's research
efforts. In addition to our successful Medical Toxicology fellowship, we are
in the process of adding an EMS fellowship (July 2002), a clinical teaching fellowship
(July 2002), and a research fellowship (July 2003).
