Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship
The University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine Advanced Practice Fellowship (EMF) is an 18-month post-graduate program designed to prepare Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) for a career in emergency medicine. Emergency medicine is complex, multifaceted and intense. The overarching goal of this fellowship is to provide emergency medicine exposure and experience to APPs in a supportive teaching environment. Though the fellowship structure allows the fellow to rotate through varies subspecialties in order to enrich this 18-month experience, most of the year will be spent in the UCH emergency department.
The fellow will spend time in the main emergency department, where high-acuity emergency medicine patients are cared for. The fellow will also rotate through SuperTrack, which is a fast-paced zone in which fellows will care for mid-acuity patients and get exposure to various procedures including suturing, fracture reduction, and incision and drainage. The Clinical Decision Unit will provide the opportunity for the fellow to provide observation medicine. The fellow will also have weekly didactic lectures, to combine real-time learning and classroom setting learning.
There are many aspects to becoming a competent EM APP. It is the mission of this fellowship to provide a springboard for career growth and development, as well as the fundamental tools necessary to have a successful career as an EM APP. This fellowship requires an 18-month commitment to complete. Eligible candidates for the fellowship program must have completed a PA or NP education program.
Program Leadership
Co-Fellowship Director
Clinical Site: University of Colorado Hospital
John Matthews, Masters, PA-C
Co-Fellowship Director
Clinical Site: University of Colorado Hospital
Fellowship Details
The Advanced Practice Post Graduate Fellowships will fuse hands-on emergency medicine experiential learning with the opportunity for fellows to learn in a non-clinical environment as well. Fellows will spend the majority of the fellowship in the emergency department, followed by off-service rotations with other specialties such as anesthesia, trauma, pediatric emergency medicine, and hospital medicine.
During the emergency department blocks, the fellow will work alongside seasoned emergency medicine APPs and attending physicians who will teach, mentor and foster their growth as a new APP. The fellow will have the responsibility of caring for his or her own patients, under the direct guidance of the attending physician. It is this aspect of the fellowship which will help the fellow to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become an independent provider.
The purpose of this post-graduate fellowship is to expose, train and immerse APPs to the vast and fast-paced environment that is emergency medicine. The physician emergency medicine residency at Denver Health and The University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine is one of the oldest emergency medicine residencies in the country and is considered a premier, flagship residency.
The APP residency at The University of Colorado has the privilege of shared resources with this residency including facilities, conferences and lectures, and faculty who have been trained in a variety of fellowships (including ultrasound, toxicology, global health, wilderness medicine, critical care, climate change, and administration).
Our vision is to also become a premier training program for APPs in emergency medicine. This curriculum is an 18-month program that combines focused emergency medicine rotations off-service rotations. The off-service rotations include anesthesia, trauma, pediatric emergency medicine, and hospital medicine.
Requirements:
- Graduate of an Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) accredited physician assistant or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) program in the United States
- National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) or American Association of Nurse Practitioner’s- board eligible or certified
- Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)
- Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)
- Eligible physician assistant candidates must have passed the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) prior to the beginning of the fellowship
Information sessions including Q&As will be held on a quarterly basis. Once scheduled, you will find the link to these sessions below. If unable to attend, recordings of these events may be offered at a later date.
Fellowship applications are reviewed in a rolling fashion with a goal to select one new fellow to start every six months. There is no set timeline in an effort allow for more flexibility for applicants with regard to starting dates. The approximate goal is to have a Fall and Spring start time each year. The application review and hiring timeline takes into account a four-month credentialing process, which begins when the candidate accepts the position. Any delays in acceptance may impact the start date. Ideal application and interview time frames for these dates are as follows:
Spring/Summer start date:
- October 15: Applications due
- November 1-15: Preliminary interviews
- December 1-7: Final interviews
- Jan 1: Credentialing begins
- April 1: Fellowship begins
Fall/Winter start date:
- March 15: Applications due
- April 1-15: Preliminary interviews
- May 1-7: Final interviews
- June 1: Credentialing begins
- October 1: Fellowship begins
*Of note, these timelines serve as guidelines only and exceptions can be made in certain circumstances.
All applications will be reviewed and considered. Review and response time may be variable. If you do not receive information regarding a specific application period or interview timeline, please reach out with questions. If circumstances require communication with program leadership, please reach out to Cody Brevik ([email protected]) or John Matthews ([email protected]).
Curriculum
The fellowship will combine hands-on, emergency department-based learning, simulation and didactic lectures to impart knowledge and the skills that are required to be a successful emergency medicine APP.
Attendance at the emergency department's weekly case conference which is followed by several lectures will occur on Wednesdays and will be mandatory during the fellowship.
In addition, fellows will attend simulation/skills sessions where they will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience and practice in procedures and resuscitations.
The didactic portion of the fellowship is made up of a series of targeted emergency medicine-based lectures and experiences. This interactive, multi-modal learning approach is designed to supplement the hands-on experience and exposure found in the clinical components of fellowship.
Sample Schedule
Introduction\Onboarding
- April*- Emergency Medicine (Paired shifts)
- May*- Emergency Medicine (Paired shifts)
- Jun*- Emergency Medicine/Procedures (2 weeks paired shifts, 2 weeks procedure team)
Three-month formal evaluation
- July*- Emergency Medicine (paired shifts)
- August*- Emergency Medicine
- September- Trauma/Super Track (2 weeks with trauma, 2 weeks training in ST)
- October- Emergency Medicine/Observation (Intro to Observation Medicine)
- November- Emergency Medicine
- December- Emergency Medicine/Anesthesia (2 weeks emergency medicine, 2 week Anesthesia)
Nine-month formal evaluation
- January- Emergency Medicine/Elective (2 weeks emergency medicine, 2 weeks elective)
- February- Emergency Medicine
- March- Pediatric Emergency Medicine (full month at Children’s Hospital emergency department)
- April- Emergency Medicine
- May- Emergency Medicine
- June- Emergency Medicine
Fifteen-month formal evaluation, post-graduation planning
- July- Emergency Medicine
- August- Emergency Medicine
- September- Emergency Medicine
Final evaluation
*Longitudinal U.S. rotation to occur during first six months of training.
Qualtrics with a QR code (easy-to-analyze, electronic format, and free)
- Department of Emergency Medicine Grand Rounds
- Wednesday emergency medicine resident conferences:
- https://www.denverem.org/resident-resources
- Case conference (formerly M&M)
- Emergency medicine resident lectures
- https://www.denverem.org/resident-resources
- APP journal club
- APP lectures
- APP SIM/skills sessions
- Central lines
- Intubation
- ACLS
- Point of care ultrasound (POCUS)
- Cardiac/chest pain didactics
- ACS, different types of stress tests
- Atrial fibrillation
- Dyspnea
- PE, PERC score, WELLS criteria
- Pulmonary emergencies
- Abdominal pain
- Vaginal bleeding
- Eclampsia
- Urologic emergencies
- AKIs
- Hepatorenal syndrome
- Cirrhosis
- AMS/encephalopathy
- LFTs abnormalities
- Shock
- Strokes
- Acid base
- Withdrawal
- Toxidromes
- Syncope
- GI bleeding