About Brent Thoma, MD MA

ALiEM Associate Editor
Emergency Medicine Research Director at the University of Saskatchewan
Editor/Author at CanadiEM.org

Sim Case Series: Procedural Sedation

PSA PictureCase Writer:  Brent Thoma, MD MA
Case Editors: Teresa Chan, MD and Nikita Joshi, MD

This procedural sedation simulation case can be used to teach, evaluate or reinforce the skills needed to safely perform procedural sedation. It presents a new format for the ALiEM Sim Case Series: Teresa Chan (@TChanMD) has worked magic to amalgamate all of the materials into a cohesive, organized, easy to follow format that also happens to be pretty. The freely downloadable PDF below includes:

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By |2016-11-11T19:17:48-08:00Dec 12, 2013|Simulation|

MEdIC Series: The Case of the New Job Negotiations – Expert and Community Response

downloadThe Case of the New Job Negotiations outlined a situation that every physician goes through. After 10-15 years of education in various forms, we finally need to find a “real” job. Things like “how to negotiate” and “what to look for in a job” are not part of the usual medical curriculum so Teresa Chan (@TChanMD) and I (@Brent_Thoma) thought it would be worth building a MEdIC cases that raises these issues.

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By |2019-02-19T18:09:03-08:00Nov 30, 2013|MEdIC series|

Social Media Index: Controversy and Evolution

Hand holding a Social Media 3d SphereThe Social Media Index was moved from BoringEM to ALiEM on the morning of Thursday, November 21st. The increased exposure for my previously obscure little prototype got it a lot of attention. By that afternoon Dr. Scott Weingart (@EMCrit) had weighed in with an audio response critical of the index and requested that EMCrit be removed. This set off a lively discussion on Twitter as a good chunk of the FOAM community got in on this important discussion.

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By |2017-06-23T18:27:25-07:00Nov 24, 2013|Social Media & Tech|

Social Media Index (SM-i) on ALiEM

Hand holding a Social Media 3d SphereThe Social Media Index (SM-i) started with a pilot on BoringEM. The rationale for the experiment was that the health care professionals creating Free Open-Access Medical Education (FOAM) resources had no way to measure their impact in the way that scholars (h-index) and journals (Impact Factor) do. This made it difficult for them to quantify the impact of their work and for the consumers of FOAM to distinguish between reputable and unproven websites. While I am aware of the many imperfections of the index as it now stands, I believe the pilot demonstrated that there is enough value in the concept to justify further exploration.

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By |2017-03-05T14:18:36-08:00Nov 21, 2013|Social Media & Tech|

MEdIC Series: The Case of the Woman in White

LabCoatsOnce upon a time nurses were all women in hats and white skirts and doctors were readily identifiable by their formal dress, and deep, masculine voices. Changes in demographics, fashion and the health care teams have shattered these stereotypes.  In doing so, it has become more difficult for our patients and fellow practitioners to identify the diverse members of a modern health care team.

This week we present the case of Jenny and Justin:  a couple of residents who are struggling with the assumptions of their patients and colleagues that result from their youthful looks and – in Jenny’s case – gender.

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By |2019-02-19T18:08:59-08:00Nov 1, 2013|MEdIC series|

MEdIC: The Case of the Difficult Consult – Expert and Community Response

medic documentOn August 30th I posted the first case of the MEdIC (Medical Education In Cases) series that will be facilitated by Dr. Teresa Chan (@TChanMD) and I (@BoringEM). The Case of the Difficult Consult involved a junior resident in the emergency department who had a consult go bad. Our readers were thrust into the role of an attending physician wanting to help.

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MEdIC series: The Case of the Difficult Consult

phone

Inspired by the Harvard Business Review Cases and led by Dr. Teresa Chan (@TChanMD) and Dr. Brent Thoma (@BoringEM), the Medical Education In Cases (MEdIC) series puts difficult medical education cases under a microscope. On the fourth Friday of the month we will pose a challenging hypothetical dilemma, moderate a discussion on potential approaches, and recruit medical education experts to provide “Gold Standard” responses. Cases and responses will be made available for download in pdf format – feel free to use them!

If you’re a medical educator with a pedagogical problem, we want to get you a MEdiC. Send us your most difficult dilemmas and help the rest of us to bring our teaching game to the next level. 

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By |2016-11-11T19:03:34-08:00Aug 30, 2013|MEdIC series|
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