Alameda Health System's Emergency Department Residency Program Ranked No. 1 in California

Alameda Health System (AHS) announced that its Emergency Department residency training program has been recognized by a new U.S. News and World Report study as No. 1 in California and No. 6 in the country among programs with a research focus.

AHS’ Emergency Department residency training, which is based at the regional trauma center Highland Hospital, also ranked as the No. 1 non-university affiliated training site and the overall No. 8 program in the country.

“This is a well-deserved honor that truly recognizes the skill and dedication of the physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and all of the other dedicated staff that contribute to the success of the Highland Hospital Emergency Department and training program,” said Wright L. Lassiter, III, Chief Executive Officer of AHS. “Highland’s reputation continues to climb because we have an outstanding faculty of nationally known teachers and physicians and we serve a diverse patient population with a mission dedicated to healing, teaching and serving all.”

The Highland Hospital program provides multi-faceted training opportunities with a mix of complex medical and surgical issues. The residents also rotate through some of the Bay Area’s top institutions including UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, Children’s Hospital Oakland, and California Pacific Medical Center.

In the past five years, the number of applicants to Highland Hospital’s Emergency Department program has doubled from 400 to 800. From this large pool, 153 top candidates were chosen to interview for the 10 spots of the 2018 intern class.

The intern classes are chosen through a “selectivity index” that all residency programs use to rank the prospective candidates in order of their preference. To fill the program’s spots this year, AHS only had to go to number 14 on their internal candidate ranking list, which is in the 99% range of all Emergency Department programs in the country. The average program has to go down their ranking list to between their No. 75 and No. 90 choices to fill all of their open residency slots.

Other AHS residency training programs are also highly sought after. The Internal Medicine program had 1,400 applicants last year, with 264 candidates interviewing for 29 spots. Additionally, Surgery attracted 550 applicants, with 120 candidates interviewed for seven spots.

For the full U.S. News and World Report rankings: https://www.doximity.com/residency_navigator/programs#residency_specialty_id=42

--Information from Alameda Health System

--Photo via Shutterstock