Health Education Services-Merit Health Wesley Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is an unopposed, community-based emergency medicine residency in Hattiesburg, MS, serving as a regional transfer center with a patient mix spanning urban, suburban and rural populations across the full acuity spectrum. The program structures training around progressive, resident-driven autonomy from PGY-1 through PGY4, with early hands-on procedural exposure (intubations, central lines, bedside ultrasound) unmediated by competing fellows or other training programs. Research is not emphasized; the curricular language centers on clinical volume, procedural competency, simulation-lab skill building, and graduated leadership responsibility (scheduling, teaching, running resuscitations) rather than scholarly output. The program explicitly frames itself as preparing graduates for any career path - fellowship, community practice, academic medicine, or rural EM - reflecting a generalist, service-driven identity rooted in "excellence in patient care" and a faith-informed institutional mission.