Program Overview

Welcome to Our Program!

Welcome to the Emergency Medicine Residency Program located in the beautiful city of Greenville, South Carolina! We are associated with Prisma Health System-Upstate Campus, formerly known as Greenville Health System. Founded in July 2017, we are a three year program. Our Charter Class, graduated in June of 2020! We are committed to training emergency medicine residents to be competent, skilled, knowledgable, and equipped for their future careers. Keep reading below to see many of the highlights of our program and why you should consider joining us for your residency training.

Department Overview

The Department of Emergency Medicine was officially recognized as an academic department in 2014. Dr. Scott Sasser, MD was the founding chair. The current department chair is Dr. Matthew Bitner, MD. We are the largest hospital system in South Carolina with eight hospitals in our system and six total emergency departments. Our ED catchment area includes the upstate of South Carolina to approximately the Laurens County area and to the northeast region of Georgia and western North Carolina.

Greenville Memorial Hospital

  • The GMH ED is the largest and busiest in the state of South Carolina.
  • The ED volume is approximately 106,500 patient visits/year.
  • The only pediatric ED in the Upstate of South Carolina with over 30,000 patient visits/year.
  • Level 1 Adult Trauma Center
  • Level 2 Pediatric Trauma Center
  • The only Pediatric ICU in the Upstate of South Carolina
  • Accredited Comprehensive Stroke Center
  • Accredited Chest Pain Center
  • 845 total hospital beds with 7 ICUs including Neonatal ICU and Pediatric ICU.
  • Allied learning environment to residents, medical, nursing, pharmacy, and technician students.
Greenville Memorial Medical Campus. Photo courtesy of Prisma Health Upstate

Other Emergency Departments in our system and ED volume

The majority of department faculty work at least one community site in addition to Greenville Memorial Hospital (the center star on map below). As of spring 2020, residents do shifts at Oconee Memorial in Seneca during their PGY2 and PGY3 years. All three years of residents rotate at Greer Memorial. Senior residents wishing to use their elective time for community EM experience will be able to take advantage of the wider array of experiences available.

  • Baptist Easley Hospital (40,000)
  • Greer Memorial Hospital (35,350)
  • Hillcrest Hospital (30,400)
  • Laurens County Hospital (32,325)
  • Oconee Memorial Hospital (40,735)
Locations of the EDs in our health system. Residents are NOT required to travel to distant outlying sites. However, these hospitals are available for community elective experiences.

Dr. Cami Pfennig on EMRA Hangouts Live

About Us

As of 2023, our Residents are comprised of a variety of backgrounds, ages, families, prior training and experiences. We strive to continue to diversify our residency program.

Ages of our Residents:
Type of Medical School Attended:
Experience prior to medical school:
Relationship Status:
Residents with children:
Gender Identity:
Number of languages we speak:
Where we are from:

Curriculum

Program Schedule

As a resident you'll spend majority of your time at Greenville Memorial Hospital. On an EM block you'll spend your time in our four different pods, including the pediatric ED for continuity, as well as community sites introduced in PGY2. We also include an assortment of meaningful off-service rotations. Our charter class, Class of 2020, each gave input on each off-service rotation and program leadership takes suggestions and feedback seriously. Our curriculum is divided into 13 four week blocks.

  • Emergency Medicine (5)
  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine (1)
  • Medical ICU (1)
  • Trauma Surgery (1)
  • Ultrasound (1)
  • Research/ REIQ- Research, EMS, Admin, QI (1)
  • OBGYN (1)
  • Anesthesia (1)
  • Emergency Medicine (6)
  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine (1)
  • Neuro ICU (1)
  • Pediatric ICU (1)
  • EM Select - community EM elective (1)
  • EM/ REAQ - Research, EMS, Admin, QI (1)
  • Elective (1)
  • Emergency Medicine (8)
  • Surgical Trauma ICU (1)
  • CREAUQ - Call, Research, EMS, US, Admin, QI
  • EM Select - community EM elective
  • SS/SS - subspecialty elective (1)
  • Elective (1)

Unique Program Highlights

Didactics Conference

We are fortunate to have a well thought out conference schedule that includes consistent teaching of topics such as EKGs, ultrasound, simulation, procedure training, pediatric presentations, case conference presented by residents of cases seen on shift, morbidity and mortality, grand rounds, broad review, C3 review, and statistics to name a few. We also take advantage of asynchronous learning with EMRA and ACEP memberships including PEER questions and EMRAP, as well as Rosh and Board Vitals all provided.

Wellness

We value wellness. We take protected time each month for a breakfast or lunch as well as meet with just two faculty members to discuss how we are doing and check in. Residency is hard. But you're not alone.

Meaningful Off-Service

Off-service on other services are meant to help you become a better emergency medicine physician by training you in another area of medicine. We recognize that this should be spent wisely, maximizing your education. Our program prioritizes that. All our off-service has been trial tested by the current residents and passed their seal of approval and meeting GME requirements. See the list above on the Program Schedule.

ICU:

Critical care is a key feature of any emergency medicine physician. At our program, we want you to graduate feeling competent in taking care of very sick patients. That's why we include many ICU rotations in our education. The benefits are comfort with sick patients, increase of knowledge of serious pathology, and an abundance of procedure practice.

Procedures: Average number of procedures the Class of 2021 had logged at the end of their intern year:

  • Adult Medical Resuscitations (108)
  • Adult Trauma Resuscitations (85)
  • Arterial Lines (12)
  • Central Venous Access (16)
  • Chest Tubes (4)
  • Dislocation Reductions (30)
  • ED Bedside Ultrasound Scans (80)
  • Intubations (77)
  • Lumbar Punctures (13)
  • Pediatric Medical Resuscitations (25)
  • Pediatric Trauma Resuscitations (9)
  • Vaginal Deliveries (15)

Other Program Highlights

  • 1:1 attending to resident ratio on shift
  • No hierarchy: Interns start out in the highest acuity pod from the start, expected to see sick patients
  • Teaching opportunities for the UofSC School of Medicine Greenville M3 and M4 as well as visiting Acting Interns/Sub I's both in formal settings and on shift
  • Academic and community medicine mix with the many EDs within our hospital system
  • Ultrasound Fellowship that started July 2020 with two fellows
  • Medical Education & Technology Fellowship, that started July 2020 with one fellow
  • Plan for Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship, coming soon
  • Electives in just about anything you can think. Leadership is also open to any elective suggestion that you may have
  • Mentoring program where each resident selects a faculty mentor and given an upper level resident mentor

Overview of July Orientation

As our new interns, arrive we value the time for them to get to know each other and make that important adjustment from student to physician. Our July Orientation month is envied because it allows each new resident to not only get to know their peers, their new town, but also get a great introduction into EM residency. During July, you'll work clinical shifts, participate in a multitude of simulation and procedure labs, a Day of Service, the annual Downtown Greenville Scavenger Hunt, the welcome party, the intern retreat which is a weekend away in the beautiful Asheville, NC, a Greenville Drive Game, EMS rescue and wilderness medicine day (which includes a guest appearance from the Black Hawk National Guard helicopter to hoist you up out of Lake Jocassee), and many other sessions to help orient you to the hospital, the ED, and off service rotations.

Engaged Faculty with Diverse Training Backgrounds

With more than one hundred emergency medicine trained faculty in the department, our residency offers exposure to attendings from a wide variety of backgrounds. We believe this heterogeneity allows our residents to figure out what is standard of care versus simply a "style point". Additionally, when it comes time for the job hunt, you can count on our broad networks to connect you with department leaders nationwide.

Where our faculty trained:

Residency:

  • Beaumont – Laskowski  
  • Brown University - McGregor
  • Carolinas Medical Center/Atrium – Holmes, Kahler, Lawson, Rochester, Sasser
  • Case Western- Throckmorton
  • Charity Hospital- Gregg
  • Cincinnati – Blackwell, Declan, Harrison, Hudepohl, Mann, Moschella
  • Duke – Morrow, Reardon
  • Eastern VA- Duncan, Gleason
  • Earl K Long- Rau
  • ECU/Vidant Medical Center – Cabaniss, Koch, Mehta, Russell
  • Emory – Bitner, Pitts, Worthington
  • Geisinger – Gray, Triner
  • Georgetown – Pittman, Shasteen  
  • Grandview Hospital – Hobbs  
  • Hackensack- Reyes
  • Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency – Eicken  
  • Henry Ford Hospital – R. Chahoud, Diaz, Farris, Jackson  
  • Indiana University – Bosshardt, Ossmann, Pfennig, M. Scott, Siddle
  • Johns Hopkins – A. Ramsay, M. Ramsay
  • LSU – Barrett, Cromer, Johnson, Manasco
  • Lincoln Medical Center- S. Strasberg, M. Strasberg
  • Mayo – Bellew
  • Medical College of Georgia- Alderman, Beltran, McKechnie, J. Williams
  • Medical College of Wisconsin – Coldebella, Perino
  • Methodist Hospital of Indiana- Chiles
  • Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center – Schwerin  
  • Michigan State – Cranston  
  • MUSC – Bailey, Bridges, Burroughs, Helms, Mahoney, Nall, A. Ross, Witt  
  • Northwestern – Roth  
  • OSU - Pirrallo
  • Penn State - Salman
  • Palmetto/ Prisma Health Richland – Barr, Bryant, Depp, Fielding
  • Prisma Health Upstate - Astemborski, Brown, Honeycutt, Lynch, Matthews, Mauhar, Shah
  • San Antonio- R. Jones
  • Sinai-Grace Hospital – Duhe  
  • Spectrum Health- Clark
  • St. Luke’s Hospital – Bogart
  • St. Mary Mercy- L. Chahoud
  • St. Vincent Toledo- Lance, Lutz
  • Summa Health- Laney
  • Tampa- J. Smith
  • Tulane – Gregg  
  • University of Alabama- Crawford
  • University of Arkansas- McGuff
  • University of California Davis- Millhouse
  • University of Florida – Elkes (USF), Maloney, Mannion (USF)
  • University of Kentucky – Lance, Lommel  
  • University of Louisville – Malmstrom  
  • UMass – Connelly
  • University of Michigan – Hirsh
  • University of New York Buffalo- D. Williams
  • UNC-Chapel Hill – Cifuni  
  • University of Pennsylvania- Kemmler
  • University of Rochester – Fabiano  
  • University of Tennessee/Erlanger – Gaafary, Walsh
  • University of Texas- Cobb
  • University of Virginia – Baird, Janse
  • Vanderbilt – Keyes, K. Scott
  • Virginia Tech/Carilion Health – Dupuis  
  • West Virginia- Neuffer
  • York- Gregory

Fellowship:

  • EMS – Beltran (Emory), Bitner (Emory), Mannion (USF), Ossmann (Carolinas), Pirrallo (Beaumont), Sasser (Carolinas), Schwerin (Mercy Health St. Vincent), Cobb (UT Southwestern), Swartzentruber (Palmetto Richland)
  • International Emergency Medicine – Depp (Columbia University), Reardon (Vanderbilt)
  • Medical Education – Pfennig (Vanderbilt), Reyes (St. Josephs)
  • PEM – Burroughs (Wake Forest), Crawford (Birmingham), Demartini (Syracuse), Dietrich (Nationwide Childrens), Granger (Vanderbilt), Jones (UNC), Malmstrom (Louisville), Maloney (Children’s National), Neal (Carolinas), Polley (Alabama), Smith (Carolinas), Wilson (University of Tennessee – Memphis)
  • Sports Medicine – Bailey (Prisma Health), Baird (University of Arizona), Bosshardt (Stanford), Shasteen (Prisma), Mauhar (Prisma Upstate)
  • Research – Bellew (Vanderbilt), Kahler (Indiana)
  • Ultrasound – Eicken (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), Gleason (Eastern Virginia Medical School), Gregory (Prisma Upstate), Honeycutt (Prisma Upstate), Hunnicutt (Prisma Upstate), Jaffa (Duke), Manasco (Prisma Upstate), Morrow (USC/Palmetto Health), Strasberg (Maimonides), Throckmorton (Prisma Upstate)
  • Wilderness Medicine - Mann (Mass General)

How to Apply

If you are interested in applying to our program, then you're at the right page! We'd love to have you come visit our beautiful city and see in person why it is on the best places to live in the Southeast. We'd love to tell you in person more about our program and why you should consider joining us for your residency!

To Apply

Complete the ERAS application and include:

  • At least 1 letters of recommendations, preferably a SLOEs. No more than four.
  • Must pass USMLE  Step 1 and submit score.
  • Completed and/or passed USMLE Step 2 CK or CS/COMLEX Level 2 PE. Can be signed up for and send us your score report when available.
  • Foreign medical school applicants must be ECFMG certified by Jun. 1st, and have some United States medical training that includes direct patient care.
  • Applicant's medical school graduation date must not exceed two years.
  • The Department of Emergency Medicine does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, age, religion, color, national origin, disability, veteran status or sexual orientation.
  • Submit application on ERAS when open this year by September 6, 2023.

Interviewing

We WILL be hosting any in-person interviews for the '23-'24 season.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Train Here

Shift Structure

Evaluation Process

Why so much ICU?

Benefits and Salary

Paid Time Off (PTO)

Role of each class

Research opportunities

Prehospital Experience

Elective opportunities

Stay in Touch

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