5 Rules To Guide Your Approach to Learning in Social Media

Blogs, podcasts, and other social media platforms in medical education, known collectively as Free Open Access Meducation (FOAM), are becoming increasingly popular and integrated into daily learning habits. Through various push technologies, these resources come to you in the form of RSS feeds, podcast tools, and other apps. Do you have a mental checklist to help you determine whether the content is trustworthy and accurate? How do you process the information from FOAM sites?

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By Teresa Chan, MD, MHPE|2017-01-20T12:30:38-08:00Sep 18, 2013|Medical Education, Social Media & Tech|

Is FOAM to blame when a medical error occurs?

What if a resident-physician attempted a technique she read on a blog or listened to on a podcast, but the procedure didn’t go as planned and the patient was harmed? Is Free Open Access Meducation (FOAM) to blame for medical errors? What about the blog site? If the site has a disclaimer (like most medical databases), is it enough to limit liability?

These are challenging questions, but ones that deserve discussion, especially in light of the recent post on St. Emlyn’s blog about a theoretical scenario just like this.

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By Teresa Chan, MD, MHPE|2017-03-05T14:18:36-08:00Sep 17, 2013|Medical Education, Social Media & Tech|

The Checklist Manifesto: ALiEM Book Club Synopsis

Our dear readers have chimed in and we’ve received amazing commentary and feedback regarding this month’s book The Checklist Manifesto. Please read the summary of the discussion below.

CHECKLISTS ARE EVERYWHERE IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Our readers have spotted checklists in a number of places including PALS/ACLS algorithms, Procedural Sedation protocols, and Clinical Decision Rules. Dr. Javier Benitez (@jvrbntz) stated that he uses a checklist for resuscitations at the start of shifts. Dr. Michelle Lin (@M_Lin) stated “We already use our own mental checklists in Med[icine]. It’s just not explicitly shared. Should have more overt shared checklists.”

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By Teresa Chan, MD, MHPE|2019-02-19T18:09:09-08:00Aug 23, 2013|Book Club, Social Media & Tech|

ALiEM Bookclub: The Checklist Manifesto

Introduction

Checklists have now almost become status quo in current medicine. My earliest encounter with the surgical checklist phenomenon was during PGY1 as an off-service intern. At this point, early adopters were running around with “Checkmark” safety-pins on their surgical caps, trying to encourage everyone to take up the cause. There were jokes and exasperated sighs each time a case started, but most complied with the task at the behest of opinion leaders (often the senior OR nurses in the room). Two years later I returned to see a culture change. OR teams seemed to communicate better, things seemed to flow.