The Duke Emergency Services division is an acknowledged leader in emergency care, trauma, and transport services. The program is nationally recognized for education and research, and is the center of choice among patients, families, referring providers, and the community.
Duke Life Flight is the Critical Care Transport Program for the Duke University Health System. This program provides critical care and emergency air/ground transport to the entire population of North Carolina, as well as portions of South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Life Flight is available to transport critically ill or injured adult, pediatric, and neonatal patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Duke Emergency Medicine Residency Program integrates the services of the Duke Emergency Services division and Duke Life Flight services with the Durham EMS program to provide a complete Emergency Medicine educational experience for the EM resident.
Duke Emergency Medicine residents will do ambulance duty and optional Life Flight ride-alongs. Residents will spend 1 block (4 weeks) doing an EMS/Admin rotation as a 3rd year resident. And they will have the opportunity to teach the medics of the various Durham EMS squads.
During their training, Duke Emergency Medicine residents work directly with the
Durham County EMS. Durham County's EMS, considered a state-of-the-art system, is certified as a local teaching institution with the State Office of EMS. Durham County's EMS includes the five existing fire volunteer departments, the City of Durham Fire Department, and
Duke University Emergency Medical Services, a student-run volunteer campus first-responder service. The volunteer departments currently provide an ambulance, station, and a driver, and Durham EMS provides a Paramedic and related equipment for Advanced Life Support responses in those districts. The City Fire Department provides Advanced Life Support first-responder assistance within the City limits, at the EMT-Intermediate levels, and Duke University EMS provides first-responder assistance on Duke campus at the EMT-D level.
Durham County is now served by a minimum of eleven Advanced Life Support ambulances per day as well as a number of various support vehicles, a bicycle-response team and an extremely capable Educational Division that provides an extensive educational program to the general public, area business and industry, and all affiliates of the Durham County EMS system. This coordinated approach to pre-hospital care is unique in the state, and continues to set the pace for others who want to provide optimum service at maximum efficiency.
