Senior Resident
Based on your exposure and career direction, you need to determine if a disaster medicine fellowship is right for you. Does your interest lie in direct field care (disaster response team) or toward disaster planning? Both are critical. Many emergency physicians get involved in disaster medicine by learning as they go. Get assigned to your hospital's Disaster Preparedness or Emergency Management Committee, volunteer to help with required disaster drills, become an instructor for Basic Disaster Life Support (BDLS)/Advanced Disaster Life Support (ADLS) courses, or join your state Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) or a local Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team. Joining a federal DMAT or USAR is more involved and usually requires a state medical license. If you don't have time to join a team, ask about opportunities to participate in their training events. The Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Medicine Agency (FEMA) Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) offers in-person training in hospital disaster management; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) decontamination; and other topics a few times each year. CDP pays for registration, travel, and housing expenses. There is an application process and waitlist, but as an emergency medicine (EM) resident you readily qualify. You need to start planning early in the year.
Work with your mentors to identify a scholarly project that you can publish or present regionally or nationally. Recognize that a graduate medical education (GME) work schedule and demands make involvement challenging. Participation in one-off training and coursework is often more manageable than being available for a multi-day deployment. These experiences will help you decide on your next steps. Talk with your mentors about their career paths into disaster medicine. Check out the SAEM Fellowship Directory - while there are a handful of disaster medicine fellowships, there are also a number of emergency medical services (EMS) fellowships that include disaster medicine training. If you decide not to pursue a fellowship, this disaster medicine experience and knowledge will make you more marketable and give you a leg up in both the community and academic setting.