Are interns prepared? A summary of current transition to residency preparation courses content.

Background: The transition from medical student to emergency medicine resident is a critical point in training. Medical students start residency with different levels of understanding and some are not meeting the emergency medicine (EM) Level 1 milestones. Residency preparation courses (RPCs) were created to fill this gap and prepare medical students for residency. Objectives: The objective was to review content from current RPC curricula to determine the content that should be included in an EM-specific transition to residency preparation course. Methods: We collected curricula from RPC course directors at different institutions and reviewed and coded the topics into categories: (1) didactics, (2) procedures, and (3) unique topics (defined as nontraditional topics that did not fit squarely into didactics or procedures). Results: We obtained content from 13 different RPC curricula. Length of the courses ranged from one to 8 weeks with the mean being three weeks. Most courses were taught within a larger medical school course and were not specific to EM (62%). The most frequently taught didactic topics were airway interventions (85%), critical care (69%), and chest pain/shortness of breath (62%). Most programs included a simulation component (92%) and the most common procedures included airway interventions (69%); lines-central, arterial, and Cordis (69%); lumbar puncture (62%); and ultrasound (62%). Many of the courses had unique or special features taught within the curriculum. The most frequently taught unique content were sessions on self-awareness and self-regulation (85%) and advanced communication (69%). Conclusions: After multiple RPC curricula content was reviewed, a set of basic curriculum has been determined and supported by the content analysis. By including a standardized curriculum within RPC's, this will help better prepare medical students and create a standard for medical students entering EM residency and may allow intern orientations to focus on higher level skills.