Emergency Medicine Residency Program

A message from Stephen Hayden, MD, FAAEM
Program Director, Emergency Medicine Residency Program

Thank you for looking into the UHS Southern California Medical Education Consortium (SoCal MEC) Emergency Medicine Residency based at the Temecula Valley Hospital! I am very excited to begin this journey as a new emergency medicine training program. Even though the program is new, you should be reassured you will be trained by a group of emergency physicians with a wealth of experience. I am going on my 28th year in the specialty and served for nearly 15 years as the Program Director at the UC San Diego Emergency Medicine Residency. I have had many roles over the years including President of the Council of Residency Directors (CORD) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Emergency Medicine. Our core faculty have also had more than 18 years of experience in the specialty, so you are in good hands.

Our mission is to educate, mentor and inspire excellence in the clinical, humanistic and professional development of our UHS SoCal MEC emergency medicine residents so that they will become compassionate and innovative specialists in emergency medicine, trained to provide high quality evidence-based healthcare.

I am proud to be part of this exciting new program. It is a privilege to tell you about our exceptional training and I invite you to explore our website to learn more about us. What you will get at UHS SoCal MEC is amazing hands-on experience in community emergency care, and the highest level training in evidence-based emergency medicine. Being a new program, we are looking for residents who want to assist us in shaping and developing the program while getting outstanding clinical training. We are responsive to feedback and want to include our residents in decisions that affect their education.

Residents rotate at Temecula Valley Hospital, Southwest Healthcare Rancho Springs Hospital and Southwest Healthcare Inland Valley Hospital, three facilities recognized for quality of care and patient safety. Each facility gives residents the opportunity to gain the breadth of experience necessary to become superior emergency physicians. Temecula Valley Hospital is a regional cardiac catheterization center and stroke center; Rancho Springs specializes in the acute care of women and infants and has a dedicated pediatric emergency department; and Inland Valley is the Regional Trauma Center. Emergency Medicine Residents will also rotate in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.

Unique attributes of our program include:

• Point of Care Ultrasound and Website (POCUS) with Butterfly Ultrasound in your pocket and currently in use by residents and faculty
• Free open access meducation (FOAMed) based on foundations in emergency medicine with concise, high yield learning
• Neuro-interventional program and STEMI/Cardiac programs are state of the art
• Experience at one of the busiest trauma centers in Southern California
• Quality awards have been received by all three hospitals in the Consortium
• More than 160,000 emergency patients to expose you to a vast array of disease profiles with limited competition from other specialties, which means more procedures for our residents
• Moto-Cross capital of the world, which will create strong trauma, orthopedic and sedation expertise
• Faculty that is diverse, energetic and excited to foster the next generation of emergency physicians
• We are in the beautiful Temecula Valley between San Diego and Los Angeles, 45 minutes to the beach, and in the heart of the premier wine region in Southern California; a great place to re-energize after the demands of residency training

I once had the opportunity to be a part of the first class in my emergency medicine residency at Stony Brook in New York. It was an experience I will never forget; in many ways it lit the fire that resulted in my career path. I had so many chances to provide feedback and to improve what was already a great educational plan. I was able to engage in the creative process for new rotations, procedure labs, and other experiences, and so I was bitten by the bug. All this greatly enhanced my residency training, and it will for you too if you have a sense of adventure, are hardworking, and have the desire to become a compassionate and clinically astute physician.

A friend of mine once told me that the only thing that would get him “off the bench” would be the opportunity to start a new training program. I could not agree more. So, if you have a little pioneering spirit, this is the program for you. Join me and help make this the best community emergency medicine program in the nation.

Watch Dr. Hayden’s Interview at the EMRA Hangouts Live @ CORD 2022