The Externship was founded by emergency and EMS physician Seth C. Hawkins in 2011, and co-founded by the Pilot Extern of that year, Dr. Ben Abo.
During this month the Externs operate as full members of the out-of-hospital medical team while learning the detailed workings of EMS medical direction, protocol management, and system response in the setting of rural, austere, and wilderness environments in Burke County.
The Externs also establish a research project on an innovative topic related to wilderness EMS, formulate a lecture based on this research that is geared toward ALS and BLS crews within the county, and provide the lecture as part of in-service for the month of the Externship.
[7] In 2018 Hawkins and the Externship received the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s “Innovation in Medical Education Award”.
[8] In 2019 Hawkins and the Externship received the Karl Rohnke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education.