The Costa Rican emergency medicine residency: Design and implementation ofa new specialty training program in Central America

A program of physician training in the specialty of emergency medicine was developed in Costa Rica, Central America, during the years 1993 and 1994. T he program involved 2 phases: a faculty preparation course, and the residen cy itself. The preparation of faculty members for the residency was underta ken in Costa Rice, with a US emergency faculty physician residing in the ho st country to assist in the development of the program. Twenty-one faculty members were prepared to teach the residency curriculum. A core group of Co sta Rican physician educators with assistance from the US emergency medicin e specialist developed a curriculum suitable for the needs of the region. A selection process for prospective applicants to the residency program is d escribed. The first residents began training in February 1994, just before completion of the faculty program. The first emergency medicine specialists graduated from the 3-year training program in 1997. The residency program continues to function at the lime of this publication. This description is offered as one model for the initiation of emergency medicine specialty tra ining in a developing country.