Trick of the Trade: No pelvic bed? No problem

Often finding a pelvic examination bed for a female patient needing a speculum exam can be challenging. Without the elevated foot stirrups, the bed under the patient’s buttocks obstructs the pelvic speculum handle so that it can’t rotate completely into a 6 o’clock position.

Some people place an upside-down bed pan to elevate the patient’s buttocks slightly in order to create more space for the speculum. Not only is the position uncomfortable for the patient, it seems a waste of a perfectly good bed pan. Fortunately there is an alternative approach.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-01-28T22:00:26-08:00Mar 26, 2013|Ob/Gyn, Tricks of the Trade|

Be a great speaker: 10 practical pearls (part 2 of 5)

For the CORD Distinguished Educator’s Coaching Program, Dr. Gus Garmel has kindly offered to share his top 50 points to improve one’s speaking skills. These tips are great for anyone who plans to do public speaking. Last week, I posted his pearls #1-10.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-12-21T11:53:47-08:00Mar 23, 2013|Medical Education|

Patwari Academy videos: Respiratory failure and ventilators

Dr. Rahul Patwari reviews the basics of respiratory physiology, the pathophysiology behind respiratory failure, and ventilator management. What do all the ventilator settings mean?

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-01-28T22:00:36-08:00Mar 17, 2013|Patwari Videos, Pulmonary|

Be a great speaker: 10 practical pearls (part 1 of 5)

Have you seen how some speakers can seemingly just give AMAZING talks? It actually takes a lot of hard work to make impactful talks look easy and effortless.

The CORD Academy for Scholarship in Education in Emergency Medicine recently has started the “Distinguished Educator’s Coaching Program” to help established educators improve their presentation skills. The concept of coaching for mastery is a hot topic, often discussed by Dr. Atul Gawande (surgeon at Brigham and Women’s and professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health).

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-01-28T22:03:47-08:00Mar 16, 2013|Medical Education|

Welcome new blog team member: Dr. Salim Rezaie

Please help me welcome Dr. Salim Rezaie, a star from the academic world of Emergency Medicine! I have been secretly stalking him on Twitter and finally found an opportunity to meet him and recruit him onto the ALiEM blog team while at the recent Council of Residency Directors (CORD) for EM annual conference.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-09-10T14:03:31-07:00Mar 13, 2013|Life|

Trick of the Trade: Ambient noise and creative cognition

For many of us in academia and medical education, we accomplish a tremendous amount of work outside of the workplace. This can be in our home office, on the public transit system, or in the library.

Interestingly, creative cognition occurs best with a moderate amount of ambient noise (not too much and not too little), according to a 2012 article from Journal of Consumer Research.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-02-19T18:04:59-08:00Mar 12, 2013|Tricks of the Trade|

Need your input! PV cards becoming an app

It’s all about luck, opportunity, and timing.

I will be releasing the blog’s first ever Paucis Verbis (PV) native app this year. After a few years of brainstorming and lots of reader inquiries about an app, we were approached by two different app-building companies in the same week. I’m incredibly humbled to be approached by organizations, who can see the potential of these pocket cards (which started as actual index cards while I was in residency). It is an incredibly exciting time to be in the world of education and social media!

I need your help with step 1.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2017-03-05T14:14:30-08:00Mar 12, 2013|ALiEM Cards, Social Media & Tech|

About Michelle Lin, MD