The residency in emergency medicine at SLR is committed to the concept of patient follow-up as an integral part of resident education and an essential component of the practice of emergency medicine. Continuous improvement in diagnostic skills is only possible through patient follow up on a regular basis. Patient follow up teaches by indicating whether or not the initial diagnosis was correct, and by demonstrating the patient's course and response to ED management.
At the end of each clinical shift at both sites, each resident prints out an EMSTAT summary of the patients he or she evaluated during that shift. This summary provides a framework for follow-up of selected patients. This patient follow up may be accomplished in a variety of ways, including but not limited to discussion of operative findings with surgical colleagues, culture results and official radiographic interpretations available through ED based computer systems and through discharge summaries. Some residents may choose to visit the patients on the floor or in the ICU. In some cases residents may note the patient's home telephone number and mark it on the summary sheet in order to later contact the patient for follow-up information. The means of follow-up is less important than the consistent incorporation of some form of follow-up as a routine part of the residents' practices. Residents should follow up at least 1 patient per shift.
The daily patient summaries are to be added to a binder that is given to each resident at the start of residency. Follow up information is added in the margin of the summary sheets. The residency directors review these binders twice a year during resident evaluations and discuss interesting follow-ups that have been recorded.
