Kern Medical Center

History

Our residency program is fully accredited and affiliated with UCLA and provides its 28 emergency medicine residents a unique balance of direct supervision, didactics, and extensive hands-on training. We train emergency physicians with the skills, medical judgment, clinical maturity, and personal confidence to function effectively as practitioners, teachers, and community leaders. The curriculum is designed to foster an interest in the continued study of medicine, and to prepare physicians to make significant and ongoing contributions to the specialty. Our graduates can provide highly skilled care in any emergency department, rural or urban, utilizing the best clinical skills and academic knowledge that the specialty has to offer.

We treat approximately 65,000 patients each year. While officially a Level II Trauma Center we function at a level I status. Our ER has the 2nd most number of trauma activations in the state of California. We are the only trauma center between Los Angeles and Visalia/Fresno. All adult and pediatric traumas occurring in our catchment area come to our hospital where they are managed by our EM residents. Residents become very comfortable managing high-acuity patients with challenging and diverse disease processes including farming and oil industry accidents, toxicology/chemical exposures, animal bites, wilderness medicine related injuries, and plenty of penetrating and blunt trauma. The patient population is primarily indigent, but the ED also receives referrals from facilities all over the county and serves unofficially as the local referral center.

The ED contains 33 beds consisting of 6 trauma and medical resuscitation bays, 11 monitored beds, 4 respiratory isolation and gynecologic rooms, 1 padded psychiatric observation room, 1 eye room, and an adjacent 9-bed urgent care center. Two spiral CT scanners, one MRI and a dedicated X-ray suite are all physically located within the department. CT scan, X-ray, and ultrasound services are available 24 hours a day.

There are 12 full-time faculty members + a SIM Director, all of whom are board certified in Emergency Medicine. They are dedicated, enthusiastic, and provide 32 hours per day of supervision. The program produces emergency physicians with the skills, medical judgment, clinical maturity, and personal confidence to function effectively as practitioners, teachers, and community leaders.

The program at Kern Medical is fully compliant with the ACGME recommendations regarding resident on-call duty hours.

Leadership

  • Department Chair: Rick McPheeters, DO
  • Program Director: Manish Amin, DO
  • Associate Program Director: Jagdipak Heer, MD
  • Assistant Program Director: Lev Libet, MD
  • MS Clerkship Director: Kieron Barkataki, DO
  • Research Directors: Daniel Quesada, MD
  • SIM Director: Sage Wexner, MD

Training Locations

Primary Hospital

  • Kern Medical Center

Secondary Hospitals

  • Cedars Sinai Medical Center
  • Bakersfield Memorial - Dignity Health

Curriculum

The Emergency Medicine educational curriculum consists of over 650 hours of lectures and demonstrations, as well as bedside teaching, patient encounters, and pre-hospital-care field experience. The didactic material is presented during two three-hour conferences each week conducted by the Emergency Medicine Department. Residents also receive teaching through specialty conferences given during off-service rotations and electives. During Emergency Medicine conference time, attending staff assume all patient care responsibilities so residents are free to attend conference. Presentations include Emergency Medicine grand rounds, morbidity and mortality conference, combined Surgery/Emergency Medicine trauma conference, and pre-hospital-care conference. Also included are radiology conference, ultrasound conference, Tintinalli study guide review, journal club, and the Base Station Physician Course. All residents receive graded responsibility for teaching and supervising junior residents, clinical clerks, and paramedic trainees within the Emergency Department. While in the Emergency Department, residents spend a minimum of 60 hours per week toward residency activities. Of this, approximately 40 hours per week, divided into eight-hour shifts, are spent on patient care. The remaining 20 hours are devoted to research and purely educational activities including conference attendance and personal reading.

PGY-1

  • ED - 24 weeks
  • Peds - 4 weeks
  • Medicine - 4 weeks
  • Obstetrics - 2 weeks
  • Anesthesia - 2 weeks
  • MICU - 4 weeks
  • Vacation - 4 weeks
  • CCU - 4 weeks
  • Elective - 4 weeks

PGY-2

  • ED - 28 weeks
  • Neurosurgery - 4 weeks
  • Peds - 4 weeks
  • Elective - 4 weeks
  • MICU - 4 weeks
  • Vacation - 4 weeks
  • EMS/Admin - 4 weeks

PGY-3

  • ED - 36 weeks
  • MICU - 4 weeks
  • Elective - 4 weeks
  • Vacation - 4 weeks
  • PICU - 4 weeks

PGY-4

  • ED - 40 weeks
  • Elective - 8 weeks
  • Vacation - 4 weeks

Electives

Ultrasound, Pediatric Anesthesia, Pediatric Critical Care, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia, Community Emergency Medicine, Teaching/"Pre-Tending", Research, Journal Review, Vascular Access, Wilderness Medicine, EMS, Hand Sx, Administration, We are very flexible and open to creating new Electives along with your interests.

Fellowships

Contact Information

Residency Coordinator: Serena Sepulveda

Email: Serena.Sepulveda@kernmedical.com
Phone: (661) 326-2161
Fax: (661) 326 2165

External Links

See Also