The Costa Rican emergency medicine residency: design and implementation of a 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. The program involved 2 phases: a faculty preparation course, and the residency itself. The preparation of faculty members for the residency was undertaken in Costa Rica, with a US emergency faculty physician residing in the host country to assist in the development of the program. Twenty-one faculty members were prepared to teach the residency curriculum. A core group of Costa Rican physician educators with assistance from the US emergency medicine specialist developed a curriculum suitable for the needs of the region. A selection process for prospective applicants to the residency program is described. 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 time of this publication. This description is offered as one model for the initiation of emergency medicine specialty training in a developing country.