EMIG: What You Need to
Maximize Potential
Jonathan S. Jones, MD FAAEM FACEP
Program Director
Assistant Professor
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Conflicts of Interest
• None…but am actively looking
• All pictures are either from public domain
websites or with patient consent
• Email me: jsjones3@umc.edu
Objectives
• Learn strategies to increase interest in
Emergency Medicine
• Identify those students truly interested in EM
(as opposed to just interested in free pizza)
• Successfully recruit the best students
• Manage students who are not a good fit for
EM
Not-Objectives
• Distribute an exhaustive list of components
necessary for a successful EMIG
• Tell you how you should organize your EMIG
• Pretend that our EMIG is perfect
EMIG Funding
• No dues!
• Departmental funding
• Fundraisers
– T-shirts
– Races
– Food
Increase Interest in EM
• Effort: 2
• Effectiveness: 5
• Evaluated on a multi-cultural, language nonspecific, visual-analog, Likert-scale using the
polytomous Rasch model
Increase Interest in EM
• Who is the audience
– Undergraduates
– M1
– M2
Increase Interest in EM
• Pre-med students
Increase Interest in EM
• Undergraduates
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Is this too early to start?
Very impressionable and excitable
Many will not actually attend medical school
Much time to rethink specialty
Great job for a resident
Increase Interest in EM
• M1/M2
– Very impressionable and excitable
– What aspects of medicine are “cool”
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Wilderness, disaster, toxicology
Trauma
Procedures
Riding in a helicopter
Foreign bodies
Increase Interest in EM
• M1/M2
– Must focus on this group
 Why
– What do M3 students learn?
Increase Interest in EM
• M1/M2
– Lectures in regular curriculum
 ICM or equivalent
– Large EMIG meetings (invite the whole class)
 Residents are best ambassadors
– Volunteering/shadowing in the ED
 Must have interested and dedicated faculty/residents
 Have a formal system
– Consider goals/checklists/recognition/awards
– Research in the ED
 Get their name on an abstract/manuscript
Increase Interest in EM
• M3
– When do students rotate in the ED?
– Is M3 year appropriate for an EM elective?
 Maybe
– Are there other options?
 BLS/ACLS/PALS/ATLS
 Simulation
 Other
Increase Interest in EM
• M4
– More appropriate time for a core EM clerkship?
– The M4 year is not too late to get students
interested in EM
– Other EM related electives
 Typical EM Sub-specialties
– But don’t limit the options to these
 Don’t be afraid to “step on some toes”
– EKG, ultrasound, research, sports medicine
Increase Interest in EM
• Social Media
– Effort: 5
– Effectiveness: 1
• Not really that useful
• Too much out there/overload
• Who does this appeal to and would we want
that person
Identify those truly interested
• Effort: 5
• Effectiveness: 8
Identify those truly interested
• EMIG Membership
– Be approachable (free, friendly, and open to
everyone) but require a little initiative on their
part
– Keep a list of members
 Some events can be open to all medical students
 But make sure some are exclusive to EMIG members
– A reason to commit
 Keep a role of who attends meetings
– Consider recognition
Identify those truly interested
• Does attending meetings or being an EMIG
officer mean the student is committed to
EM?
– Maybe
• Does spending time in the ED mean the
student is committed to EM?
– Yes
Identify those truly interested
• Mentors!
– Don’t force anyone to be a mentor
– The best mentors may be residents
– Create a list of mentors and their interests
 All students will want to have the PD, CD, Chair as their
mentor
– Be careful
– Standardized expectations
 For both mentors and mentees
Recruit the best
• Effort: 8
• Effectiveness: 10
Recruit the best
• The EMIG Meeting
– Need separate meetings for M1/2 and M3/4
– The M3/4 meetings are really for recruiting
Recruit the best
• Sample EMIG M3/4 meeting schedule
– March/April: Planning for the M4 year,
externships?
– May: Welcome/going away party
– June: How to be an M4
– July: Residency application basics and LORs
– August: Personal statements
– September/October: Mock interviews
– January: Rank list
Recruit the best
• Awards
– National, Regional, Institution
• Research
• Travel
• Let them teach
Recruit the best
• Most everything used to get students
interested is also great to use for recruiting
• The most important thing you can do to
recruit a great student:
Recruit the best
• Personal attention
– Why should they be interested in us if we aren't
interested in them
– Honesty
What about students you don’t
want
• Effort: 12
• Effectiveness: 12
• Evaluated on the “fibromyalgia-acting-upallergic-to-everything-but-demerol” scale
What about students you don’t
want
• Are they not a good fit for EM, or are there
other issues involved?
• Remember what EMIG stands for
– Ideally we can help all members of EMIG, even
those we don’t want as residents
– It’s good for them and for us
What about students you don’t
want
• Demand specifics
• Be honest
– A reality check now is better than on match day
• Should you interview all of your own
students?
• Should you interview everyone who did an
externship with you?
Take Home Point #1
• EMIG is not just about meetings
– Don’t let EMIG be totally student run – Take
control of it
– Expand the scope to include all recruiting efforts
– Clinical experiences, research, curriculum
changes
– Be organized, keep records, track student
involvement
Take Home Point #2
• Start early
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The earlier the better (and easier)
Get residents involved (heavily)
Get senior students involved
Remember why you chose EM
Shock and awe
Take Home Point #3
• Mentors!
– Faculty and residents
– Will backfire if mentor isn’t interested/dedicated
– This is how you keep your best