The five-year Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine Residency at HCMC offers residents unprecedented clinical training in emergency and internal medicine with a diverse patient population, all in a comprehensive academic healthcare system in downtown Minneapolis.

Launched in 2006, our innovative single-site program is one of only 12 combined EM/IM residencies in the country. It leverages our ACGME-recognized Internal Medicine Residency and our pioneering Emergency Medicine Residency into a single curriculum.

Our structured approach, with an orientation month followed by three month immersion in each discipline, enables EM/IM residents to maximize their education in each department, while still progressing in responsibility with their categorical peers. EM/IM residents enjoy significant leadership responsibilities in both programs, including serving as Chief Residents in the final year.

What sets us apart?

• Collegial learning environment. Our single site program and academic culture promote collaboration and teamwork at all levels. Residents work side-by-side with fellows, faculty, and specialists from numerous disciplines, including more than 100 medical students who rotate at HCMC each month. Our combined program structure ensures EM/IM residents build strong relationships within both departments.
• Hands-on clinical experience. Our residents take an early and active role in patient care and obtain decision-making roles quickly. Within the Emergency Department, EM/IM residents direct the initial stabilization of all critical patients, manage airway interventions, and oversee all critical care. In Internal Medicine, residents manage patient care from admission through discharge, provide primary care through Continuity Clinics, and are typically the only physicians to write orders.
• Integrated technology. HCMC features state-of-the-art medical equipment and a completely paperless environment, with Level 7 implementation of the Epic electronic health record. Residents learn and utilize bedside ultrasound, advanced airway equipment, Hyperbaric Chamber, the Interdisciplinary Simulation and Education Center, and other state-of-the-art tools as part of the daily routine.
• Leadership opportunities. From supervising medical students and other residents to directing patient care as “pit boss” in the Emergency Department, EM/IM residents take on substantial leadership responsibility. PGY-5 residents become chief residents in both programs and assist with administration, teaching, and recruiting.
• Diverse case mix. Few settings offer the range of patients and pathology available at HCMC. As the region’s safety net hospital and the state’s busiest emergency department, residents train in a high-volume setting and treat individuals of all ethnic and economic backgrounds, with cases from cardiovascular disease and acute trauma to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
• Employment and fellowship options. HCMC graduates are among the most sought-after emergency and internal medicine professionals in the field, with most receiving full-time job offers or fellowship acceptances well before graduation.