It is with great excitement that I announce the beginning of something amazing, the USF EM Training blog.  This blog is something I have thought about since I joined the leadership team at USF in November of 2019.  The inspiration for this blog was simple – I wanted to showcase the talented residents and faculty of USF and develop an educational space that would provide a tiny glimpse into our program.  I can’t separate my training philosophy from my intentions or expectations for this blog.  I am constantly reminded of a quote Dr. David Callaway, a former veteran and EM physician specializing in disaster medicine said to me, “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”  That quote, which apparently was first said by a Greek poet and later modified by a Navy Seal, has followed me every day of my career.  I believe it wholeheartedly.  We have a duty to our patients to provide excellent, compassionate care.  Every shift, every rotation, every lecture, is a training opportunity that is preparing us to provide the best care possible for people who are counting on us.  

Effective training requires discipline and commitment.  You must show up and put in the time.  In general, medical residents have already mastered these personalities traits which enabled them to succeed in becoming a physician.  I would take the theory of training a step further and say that who we train with also impacts our ability to reach our full potential.  Emergency residents should be challenged, inspired, and equipped to become great physicians and even better human beings.  They must hone skills that will allow them to be life-long learners, teachers, and leaders and if they desire to be truly exceptional, they must begin to view their patients as people not just interesting cases.  This is one of the many reasons I am passionate about residency education and excited to see this blog come to fruition.  So with that said, I hope this space provides readers with an opportunity to see what training at USF is all about. 

About the author

Dr. Okonkwo is the Assistant Program Director at USF.  She attended medical school at Indiana University and completed her emergency medicine residency training at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.