The Mass General Department of Emergency Medicine is involved in a wide variety of medical education endeavors. Continuing medical education courses for practicing physicians are offered throughout the year. Premedical students are encouraged to contact individual faculty members for mentorship, usually in clinical research, which also provides introduction to medicine as a career. As part of their activities as members of the Academy at Harvard Medical School (HMS), faculty provide preclinical-year medical students with educational experiences in a medical simulator setting (at HMS) and also in the ED, in an "advanced shadowing" program. An Emergency Medicine clinical rotation for junior and senior Harvard Medical School students, as well as visiting seniors from other medical schools, accommodates 5-10 students monthly. The Mass General ED is a founding site of the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency.

ATLS: Advanced Trauma Life Support

The ATLS Provider Course is designed to teach skills necessary for initial assessment and stabilization of the injured patient. ATLS is designed for physicians.

For ATLS course information, please contact Suzann Lindsay at 617-726-3597 or slindsay1@partners.org.

BLS: Basic Life Support

The BLS Provider Course is designed to provide the knowledge and skills needed for fundamental patient evaluation and stabilization. Course participants, who can be healthcare workers or anyone in the community, are trained to recognize an emergency and be sufficiently competent to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Read more about BLS course information

PALS: Pediatric Advanced Life Support

The PALS Provider Course is designed to teach skills necessary for initial assessment and stabilization of the pediatric patient. Among the topics covered by the courses are basic life support, respiratory and ventilatory interventions, shock, and vascular access. PALS is designed for physicians, nurses, paramedics, or other health care providers.

Read more about PALS course information

Other CME Courses for Physicians

The Mass General Department of Emergency Medicine co-sponsors and/or participates in other CME conferences. One such conference, the Rocky Mountain Conference on Emergency Medicine, occurs each winter. A sample brochure is offered here, to give an example of the type of educational offerings available.

Request brochure

Beyond Shadowing: Introduction to Clinical Medicine for Harvard Medical School Students

Dr. Dana Stearns, Emergency Medicine Faculty and member of the Academy at Harvard Medical School, is the course director of a "beyond shadowing" rotation for preclinical medical students. The course offers an in-depth introduction to clinical medicine, as practiced in the ED setting, to 1st- and 2nd-year medical students from HMS. Contact Dr. Stearns at dstearns@partners.org.

Emergency Department Rotation for Visiting Residents

Mass General offers an elective ED rotation for residents from Mass General Brigham-affiliated hospitals. More information on this program can be obtained by contacting Dr. David Brown at 617-726-5273.

Other Educational Opportunities

The Mass General Emergency Department serves as an educational rotation site for paramedicine (EMT-P) students from Northeastern University, and a clinical rotation site for other prehospital providers such as crewmembers from Boston MedFlight. Paramedic students interested in spending time in our ED should contact their respective paramedicine programs for more information.

Premedical students from Harvard, MIT, Tufts, and Wellesley College have worked with individual ED Faculty members on clinical research projects which have also afforded an introduction to medicine as a career. Premedical students interested in working on clinical research projects should contact Blair Adlen Parry at bparry@partners.org.

Other Emergency Medicine-related educational offerings information may be found at the following sites: