8 Tips on How to Succeed in Your EM Sub-Internship
This time of year is almost universally overwhelming for visiting medical students at away rotations. They are thrown into a new environment for a brief amount of time and there is a great deal of pressure to impress both faculty and residents. After years of hard work and study, these few weeks may be one of the most influential aspects of a residency application. A survey study of Emergency Medicine (EM) residency program directors by Crane et al. showed that EM rotation grade was the single most important factor in resident selection.1 Given the importance of performing well on this rotation, [+]
ALiEM Bookclub: Beyond the ED – Recommendations by Dr. Mike Gisondi
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss Dr. Mike Gisondi is the program director of the Northwestern Emergency Medicine Residency as well as a leader in medical education, faculty development, and palliative care. He has been recognized both locally and nationally for his work, receiving the 2014 ACEP National Emergency Medicine Faculty Teaching Award as well as being appointed as the director of the Feinberg Academy of Medical Educators (FAME). For readers of ALiEM he is probably best known as the host of the [+]
IDEA Series: Highlighting FOAM Content through an Asynchronous Course
The Problem Many residents regularly consume FOAM (Free Open Access Medical Education) and online educational materials independently, without faculty guidance or input. At the same time, residency programs are looking for ways to provide high-quality asynchronous learning opportunities to their residents while remaining compliant with the Emergency Medicine Residency Review Committee (RRC-EM) Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) guidelines. [+]
A Starter’s Roadmap to EM Resources: Books, Websites, and Apps
With the start of the year, we welcomed a new group of faces into our respective residency programs. We can all still remember how daunting it was to tackle learning the immense volume of material to be a great emergency medicine physician. We have so many amazing resources, but no road maps for where to start. The purpose of this list is to help guide the new interns as well as to highlight some resources that even the more seasoned clinician may find useful. [+]
Using Slack for Residency Communication – Do’s and Dont’s
One of the most difficult parts of residency and medical education is coordination and communication. Often residents and faculty alike can be found drowning in a never ending onslaught of emails, with chains of projects getting buried amongst reply-all’s and attachments. Over the course of the past year, our residency program at Doctors Hospital-OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio has been using a newer form of communication to facilitate the dissemination of information and collaboration as a group. After some initial exploration into technology and apps, it was decided to try out the program called Slack. Designed to help large groups work [+]
MEdIC Series: Case of the Honorary Authorship – Expert Review & Curated Commentary
The Case of the Honorary Authorship outlined a scenario of a senior academic scientist interacting with two more junior researchers, raising issues around publication ethics and professionalism. This month the MEdIC team (Brent Thoma, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Tamara McColl, Eve Purdy, John Eicken, and Teresa Chan), hosted a discussion around these questions with insights from the ALiEM community. We are proud to present to you the Curated Community Commentary and our 2 expert opinions. Thank-you to all our participants for contributing to the very rich discussions last week. [+]
Escaping Addiction with Dignity as a Medical Student
“The most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” –David Foster Wallace Addiction can be a nightmare of isolation and shame, but it doesn’t have to be. I will always remember my last night of withdraw; sitting in the busy waiting room of my training hospital. I kept thinking about what might happen if one of my EM attendings were to care for me. To see me sick, weak, and vulnerable. Nobody other than my family knew I struggled with alcohol abuse, and I was exhausted with the neverending cycle of [+]
EM Match Advice: Program Directors Reflect on the 2016 Match
The new emergency medicine (EM) residency application season is upon us! Senior medical students are arranging away EM electives, asking for letters of recommendations, and thinking about what residency programs to apply to. But before we look forward, what lessons can we learn from the 2016 EM Residency Match? In this EM Match Advice series installment, an esteemed panel of program directors reflect on the trends, surprises, and lessons learned from the 2015-16 year. Dr. Michael Gisondi (Northwestern) hosts the discussion with the panelists Dr. Diane Rimple (University of New Mexico), Dr. Michael Bond (University of Maryland), and Dr. Christopher Doty (University of Kentucky). [+]
MEdIC Case: The Case of the Honorary Authorship
Welcome to season 3, episode 9 of the ALiEM Medical Education in Cases (MEdIC) series! Our team (Brent Thoma, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Tamara McColl, Eve Purdy, John Eicken, and Teresa Chan) is pleased to welcome you to our online community of practice where we discuss the practice of academic medicine! In this month’s case a junior staff person is unsure of whether or not to include a senior staff on a paper. [+]
IDEA Series: Just-in-Time Procedural Training for Endotracheal Intubation
The Problem Procedural training is critical in emergency medicine (EM). EM residents must effectively acquire the skills to safely and accurately perform high-stakes, invasive, and life-saving procedures during high-pressure scenarios. Residency programs typically incorporate procedural skills workshops into didactic sessions, which results in residents practicing procedures several weeks or months before performing them clinically. Unfortunately, there is no established method to practice and evaluate procedural skills competency immediately prior to performing invasive procedures on a patient. A solution to this issue may lead to improved outcomes and greater patient safety. [+]
Director of Growth, Strategic Alliance Initiative, Center for Innovation and Digital Health
Massachusetts General Hospital;
Chief Scientific Officer, Conductscience.com
Latest posts by Shuhan He, MD (see all)
- The Discharge Severity Index: Early Research on ED Readmission Risk Assessment - August 14, 2025
- Suboxone and the Emergency Physician: Get Waivered Training - August 12, 2022
- A Tale of Two Epidemics: COVID-19 and the Opioid Crisis - April 23, 2020