Emergency Medicine Research Associates Program

St Joseph Mercy Health System - Department of Emergency Medicine

The specialty of emergency medicine cares for acutely sick and injured patients. Research in emergency medicine addresses the most basic issues in clinical medical care. An emergency department provides a broad array of medical services that range from acute severe trauma and heart attacks to a "safety net" for those with no other access to the medical-care system. Research in this setting can identify fundamental issues of health-care delivery and can improve the quality of emergency care for patients.

The site for the Research Associates Program is SJHMS - Ann Arbor. This 537-bed hospital is a major teaching hospital with physician residency training programs in a variety of medical specialties. The emergency department (ED) cares for more than 85,000 patients per year and is a principle component of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program. The Hospital serves an area of wide diversity in both cultural and socioeconomic background. It is a Level 2 Trauma Center, and consists of a General Emergency Department, a Senior Emergency Department, a Pediatric Care Center, and a Fast Track. It is one of the busiest emergency centers in the state of Michigan.

Resident physicians from a wide variety of basic specialties of medicine, as well as medical and nursing students and paramedic trainees rotate through our Emergency Department. The concept of service to those most in need underpins the teaching activities in our setting.

Research

The research program in Emergency Medicine at SJMHS is very active. Projects that have been accomplished and that are ongoing cover a broad spectrum of clinical issues in the ED. Some areas of interest include:

1) cost effective emergency care 2) trauma 3) asthma 4) identification of heart attacks 5) EMS (prehospital care) 6) toxicology and overdoses 7) doctor-patient communication 8) infections and "sepsis" 9) geriatric health care 10) care of the patient with headaches and "binocular vision disorders".

Research Associates

College students are active participants in our research efforts. These Emergency Medicine Research Associates identify patients who are eligible for our studies, read information about the studies to the patients, collect data from the patient's history and from the physical exam, and generally facilitate the completion of the research encounters. They also will perform research from patient's medical records and perform literature reviews. This type of Research Associates program, with involvement in emergency medicine research, is only available at a few centers in the country.

We are looking for college students, particularly those who may have career goals in the health care professions, to fill this role as RAs. During the weekly lectures RAs will learn the particulars of each project and will be involved in all aspects of clinical research. You must make a 2 semester commitment to be accepted into the program. Participants are expected to attend weekly meetings and come to three 4-hour shifts in the ED per week.

Participation Requirements

Completion of required readings (articles as provided).
Attendance at EMRAP research design lectures (once a week).
Completion of written tests. Tests will cover the basic elements of ongoing clinical research study protocols, and relevant administrative aspects of the EMRAP program. The final exam includes selected basic clinical research concepts taken directly from the reading.
Perform a computer-based or library literature review search on a specific medical topic and presentation of the topic to the group.
Other assigned tasks individualized to student interests or background.

How to Apply

To be considered for the program, please complete the Application Form, and then click the Submit by Email button at the bottom of the form.

Note that the application form is in Adobe PDF format, and you need the (free) Adobe Reader software to view and fill it out. If you do not already have it installed, you can download it here.

Program Director
Mark Rosner, MD
Associate Clinical Instructor
Page: 734-670-7742
Email: mrosner@epmgpc.com

Associate Program Director
Daniel Keyes, MD, MPH
Office: 734-712-5988
Page: 734-670-5507
Personal efax: 734-661-0456
Email: keyesdc@trinity-AcademicHealth.org
Email (2): dkeyes@epmgpc.com