Emergency Medicine Fellowship Overview & Curriculum

The MaineHealth Maine Medical Center (MHMMC) Emergency Medicine Fellowship is a 1-year, ACGME-accredited training program for emergency physicians seeking a career, and board certification, in EMS medicine. We are currently accepting one trainee per year. The program is a collaboration between MHMMC, the Portland Fire Department and LifeFlight of Maine.

About MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Portland (MHMMCP)

MHMMCP is a tertiary care center serving Maine and northern New England. The hospital is a Level 1 trauma center, comprehensive stroke center, primary PCI center, advanced heart failure center (including VAD and ECMO) and has the state’s largest volume of emergency medicine patients. 

MHMMCP is also home to MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (MHBBCH), the state’s only children’s hospital. With over 100,000 annual visits, MHBBCH features 116 in-patient beds, including 31 Level IV NICU beds, 20 Level II continuing care nursery beds and 8 PICU beds. 

Affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine, MHMMC hosts an Emergency Medicine Residency and robust medical student rotations. Fellows work clinical shifts in the MHMMCP emergency department supervising resident and medical student learners.

Portland Fire Department

The Portland Fire Department (PFD) is a professional, fire-based EMS service and is the busiest 911 system in Maine. PFD responded to 14,476 patients in 2021 of which 14.5% were pediatric. Fellows spend the majority of their field time working with PFD front line crews on ambulances running out of the cities each five geographic districts. Fellows will see and experience the breadth of the city’s population and associated medical needs.

Additionally, fellows work closely with Shift Leaders, responding EMS calls from across the city with Shift Lieutenants and Captains in a fly car designated “Car 9.” While on scene, the fellow provides direct medical oversight of clinical care, caregiver communication techniques, patient refusals, and all of the intangible items that make pre-hospital care unique. Fellows are expected to provide directed feedback and education to pre-hospital care providers and will receive feedback evaluations from the providers and supervisors at the end of each shift.

Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in any of the department’s special responses, which include:

• Training with the city’s Special Reaction Team
• Participation in the department’s Mobile Medical Outreach program (supporting the city’s most vulnerable populations such as those experiencing SUD and homelessness)
• Air response team covering the Portland International Jetport
• Marine units covering the city’s waterscape
• Haz-Mat team
• Technical rescue service

This will expose fellows to the realm of special response medicine while under direct supervision of the team’s medical directors.

LifeFlight of Maine

LifeFlight of Maine (LFOM) is Maine’s only helicopter EMS program and responds to over 2,300 calls each year. The agency's three rotor wing aircraft and single fixed wing aircraft are spread geographically across the state. Fellows spend a rotation learning from LFOM medical directors, participating in education and quality improvement efforts, and will have the opportunity to fly with the service. During this rotation, fellows assist the medical direction team in online medical control calls, post-hoc call review, utilization review, and quality improvement efforts.

In addition to these program pillars, fellows participate within Maine EMS – the statewide bureau that resources a regional emergency medicine system, oversees the development of statewide treatment protocols, and performs system-wide quality improvement. Fellows also have an opportunity to choose from elective rotations to gain insight into specific areas of pre-hospital medicine that best suit their interests.