Senior Medical Student

Identifying an interest in geriatrics early gives you an advantage. There are a few steps you could take during medical school that will help you reach your dream geriatric emergency medicine (GEM) career.

• Consider doing an elective in geriatrics. Electives in GEM or an away EM elective at an institution that has a geriatric emergency department (ED) and/or GEM academic faculty may be helpful.
• Find a mentor early on who will guide and support you through your exciting journey. This is a relatively small subspecialty of EM, so you may need to identify a mentor who is a geriatrician or palliative medicine specialist.
• Work with your mentor to identify a small quality improvement project that you can lead in the field of GEM or an existing research project on which you can participate.
• Apply for the Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program, where you will have the opportunity to carry out geriatrics research with top experts in the field. Although this program is commonly done between MS1 and MS2, a few students have done it as an elective during MS4.
• Consider getting involved on the national level, like through SAEM's Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine (AGEM), which offers scholarships to medical students to attend the SAEM Annual Meeting. This is an invaluable networking and learning opportunity! You can also join the geriatric interest group at the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) or join/attend the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) GEM section meetings to learn about the field, contribute, and network.

Choosing the Right Residency

Residency programs with an accredited geriatric fellowship, geriatric ED, and/or GEM academic faculty are the ideal environment to nurture your enthusiasm for the specialty and will have structure to support your interest and development.

What if My Dream Program Doesn't Have Strong Geriatric Training?

• Seek out opportunities! You could do a geriatrics elective at your home institution or as a visiting resident, collaborate on research with those within your department or geriatrics at your institution, or collaborate with those at other institutions.
• Network on a national level during SAEM and ACEP meetings.
• Consider an EM elective at an institution that focuses on GEM.
• Consider a dual EM/internal medicine program for the additional education and/or opportunity to do a geriatric fellowship after training.
• Consider a GEM fellowship for additional training after EM residency.