General Fellowship

Description of General Program

The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) recognizes there are many valuable non- ACGME-approved post-graduate training opportunities for EM residency graduates. In an effort to promote standardization of training within a sub-specialty area, guidelines have been developed for any eligible fellowship program to earn the endorsement of SAEM as an approved fellowship. SAEM has developed guidelines for training programs that address curricular elements, faculty support recommendations, and career development opportunities.

Approval of a fellowship is contingent upon a review of the institutional environment, success of prior graduates and current members of the faculty fellowship team, and proposed curriculum for future fellows. All approved institutions must have an ACGME-approved emergency medicine residency.

A site visit and/or interview may be requested at the discretion of the SAEM Fellowship Approval Committee members. Initial approval of a fellowship is for a period of three academic years (July 1 – June 30). At the end of the initial period, programs with demonstrated success can apply for renewal of approval every five years. Approved programs must communicate to the committee annually any changes in fellowship personnel. In the event of the departure or replacement of the program director, a secondary review will be required.

How to Submit

All applications and evaluations must be submitted through the online portal by 5pm Central Time on the deadline. If the deadline falls on a holiday or weekend, applications will be accepted on the next business day.

New Application Deadline: March 31st

Renewal Application Deadline: September 30th

• Renewal applications are due the third year after initial application is approved.
• Subsequent renewals are due every five years.

Application Fees

• Application fee is $400 at the time of submission.
• Annual fee of $150 for years 1 and 2.
• Annual fee of $200 for year 3 and beyond.
• Please make check payable to "SAEM" and reference "[Type of fellowship] Fellowship Application."
• Checks can be mailed to: SAEM, 1111 East Touhy Ave, Suite 540, Des Plaines, IL 60018 or faxed using the credit card form [pdf] to (847) 813-5450.
  

You can download a copy of the Administrative Fellowship Application Form questions.

Please note, you must submit applications through the online portal. Emailed copies of an application will not be accepted. 

Annual Reports

Annual Fellowship Evaluations are required of approved programs on March 31st each year. The annual evaluation will ask you to list graduating fellows. Please make sure to complete this form in order for your fellows to receive their certificate. Following SAEM Approval, annual reports will be assigned yearly as a task to complete within the online application portal. You can access the forms by logging on to manage your application.

Institution Application

Approval of an Emergency Medicine General Pathway Fellowship program is contingent upon a review of the institutional environment, current members of the faculty fellowship team, success of prior graduates, and proposed curriculum for future fellows. Approved institutions must have an ACGME-approved emergency medicine residency program. Finally, scholarly activity of fellows is highly encouraged and programs must demonstrate access to mentorship in this area. Institutions must meet the criteria as set forth below.

Essential Elements for an SAEM-Approved Fellowship in Emergency Medicine Administration

As the landscape of EM continues to evolve, new fellowships are expected to emerge. As with many fellowships, these will likely start as small, niche fields as awareness and interest build. It is among the aims of SAEM and the SAEM Fellowship Approval Committee to provide support for and help to develop these new and nascent fellowships, and allow for SAEM Approval of said fellowships.

New and niche sub-specialty fellowship programs without a current specialty-specific SAEM approval pathway may now apply for approval through the "General Fellowship Pathway."

Criteria for Approval

Clinical Hours

Clinical hours will be dependent on the goals of the fellowship. It is expected that clinical hours for a clinically-based fellowship will be comparatively higher than non-clinically-based fellowships. In either case, clinical duty hours must not ever exceed 80 hours/week. Additionally, the fellow must have one day off in every block of seven days, and may not take in-house calls more often than every three days when averaged over a four-week period.

Faculty Support

Fellowships must have at least two faculty, a program director and one supporting faculty member. These faculty need not have trained specifically in the field, but must have at least one of the following:

• Institutional QA/QI initiatives in the focus area
• Publications in the focus area
• Completed a fellowship in the focus area

Departmental and institutional support for fellowship director should be commensurate to ACGME approved fellowships.

Fellow Support

Fellowship programs must have the following support available for fellows:

• Fellowship Coordinator: there must be resources to support fellowship coordination activities (this may be a portion of an FTE as appropriate for the needs of the fellowship)
• Funding available for continuing medical education

Fellow Evaluation Process

Fellowship programs must have a formal process to evaluate and provide feedback to fellows, with a formal evaluation and feedback occurring twice a year at a minimum. Objective criteria are encouraged whenever feasible. 

Fellowship Evaluation Process

The Program Director must appoint a program evaluation committee and perform an annual program evaluation. The program evaluation committee must be comprised of at least two faculty members and one fellow. The goals of the program are to be self-determined, but must be with the aim of continuous refinement and improvement. Suggested elements for review are:

• Curriculum
• QA/QI improvement
• Wellbeing
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Retention/recruitment
• Scholarly activity

Curriculum

The program should have identified learning objectives and an established curriculum to achieve outlined objectives. In the review process, the program generally will not be evaluated based on the curricular content specific to the sub-specialty; however, the review will evaluate the overall structure of the curriculum to ensure it is educationally sound and supports fellow's professional growth.

Scholarly Activity

Scholarly activity is an important component of all SAEM Approved fellowship programs. Fellowships should provide opportunity and exposure to research and/or other scholarly work relative to the specialty.

The SAEM Fellowship Approval Committee may determine that a fellowship program seeking approval via the General Fellowship Pathway is more appropriate for a designated pathway. Submitters will be directed to resubmit to that pathway (revising the application as necessary), and the program will be evaluated per that designated pathways' process/criteria.