On November 18, 2021, emergency medicine residents from University of Kentucky and University of Louisville went head-to-head in the first ever "Battle of the Bluegrass" hosted by Castle & Key Distillery in Frankfort. This friendly competition kicked off this year's annual meeting of the Kentucky chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Resident physicians battled it out in three rounds: a quiz bowl, an ultrasound event, and a complex procedure relay. Though it was a close race, our UK team prevailed in all parts of the competition and brought home the Battle of the Bluegrass Barrel to Lexington.
In the first event, Drs. Matt Riley, Wes Barnett, and Mikalah Ward bested their U of L colleagues in a jeopardy-style quiz bowl. Categories ranged from "OB, Oh No!" and pediatric emergencies to a slew of questions about Kentucky state history. Afterwards, Drs. Connor Greer, Josiah Burrows, and Philip Kayser competed in the SonoGames event. They drew an ultrasound view at random, then performed that specific scan in real time on a human model. In the final event, Drs. Blake Davidson, Alex Peterson, and Selena The zoomed through a relay where they executed procedures with both speed and skill.
It was an exhilarating day from the start, but the excitement came to a head when UK Emergency Department Chair Dr. Roger Humphries was presented with the trophy, a handsome bourbon barrel branded with "Battle of the Bluegrass est. 2021."
This event could not have been the rousing success it was without the support of the Emergency Medicine Departments at UK and UofL, working in conjunction with the UK Simulation Center and our PGY3 academic chief, Dr. Gurpreet Kaur. We look forward to this event becoming a time-honored tradition for our residency program.
Congratulations, UKEM! We have a stellar team of residents, directors, and coordinators, and so much to be proud of.
