HCA Healthcare-Mercer University School of Medicine-Grand Strand Health Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a large, community-based, HCA-affiliated three-year EM program (12 residents/class) housed at Grand Strand Medical Center, a 403-bed hospital with South Carolina's busiest Level 1 trauma center, high-acuity volume (over 120,000 annual ED visits, 37% admission rate), and academic affiliations with USC and VCOM. The program emphasizes heavy procedural exposure (100+ intubations per graduate), a five-month ICU block structure, an in-house EM ultrasound fellowship, and faculty niche expertise in toxicology, envenomation, and point-of-care ultrasound. Scholarly activity is structurally supported but not central to identity - a single Scholarly Activity Project is required, backed by a dedicated EM Research Director, research coordinator, and HCA's system-wide data/grant infrastructure. The program's stated emphasis on autonomy, belonging, and well-being (via HCA's "Pathways to Flourishing" framework) alongside high trauma/procedural volume suggests it values residents who thrive under high-acuity clinical autonomy while functioning within a structured, supportive community-hospital culture.