Letter from the Chief Residents

Chief Residents 2022 – 2023

We are excited to share with you some of the many aspects of our program that make Regions a great place to train. We serve a unique blend of under-served and privately-insured patients within the St. Paul metropolitan area, greater Minnesota, and western Wisconsin. As a Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, Heart Center, Stroke Center, and Regional Burn Center, our hospital and emergency department provide quality and specialized care to a large and diverse community.

On day one of residency, our residents are exposed to critically ill patients and advanced procedures. Early advanced responsibilities allow our residents to develop their clinical acumen, resuscitation skills, and procedural competencies over all three years of residency. Interns manage all of the medical airways, meaning you could be intubating, placing central lines, or otherwise taking care of the sickest patients in the department on your first shift as an ER resident. We gain further experience in critical care by providing 24/7 year-round coverage in the Surgical ICU with extensive Medical ICU coverage as well.

We continue to emphasize wellness in our clinical rotations as well as our lives outside of the hospital. Our leadership is constantly seeking resident feedback and using this feedback to improve our clinical rotations, making them as beneficial to our learning as possible. We prioritize early documentation and sign outs that allow our residents to leave their shifts on time. Our wellness committee plans regular gatherings for residents, attendings, nurses, and ancillary staff which promotes the already collegial relationship amongst the ED staff. Past gatherings have included overnight resident retreat to lakeside resorts, Top-Golf outing, kickball, volleyball, climbing, softball and soccer leagues, numerous department-wide volunteer experiences, and many more. Our interns attend SAEM every year for some fun bonding time with each other and to get to know the staff.

We believe that our unique location, extensive critical care experience, and focus on resident wellness, combined with our experienced faculty, are just a few of the many features that make the Regions Emergency Medicine Residency Program a great place to train.

Annika Strand, MD, McKinzy Butler, MD, River Cook, MD and Liz DeYoung, DO