Banishing Busy: Part 1

Medical professionals are busy people and exist in a constant state of “being busy.” How do we resolve chronic “busy-ness”? How do we manage our time effectively? In her recent talk at the CORD Academic Assembly 2020, Dr. Christina Shenvi, EM Physician and Associate Residency Director at UNC, provided 5 key actions to help us be productive, complete our work effectively, and strive for work-life balance. Dr. Shenvi recorded her lecture again to be shared with the ALiEM Faculty Incubator. This series of posts breaks down her talk into 3 sections in order to summarize her key points and to help us “Banish Busy” from our lives. This first post will address the importance of value-based scheduling and how to avoid self-sabotage.

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By Brian Barbas, MD|2020-08-25T18:02:15-07:00Jun 26, 2020|Life, Professional Development|

Silence is not an option: Addressing structural racism in medical education

The year 2020 has been a year of upheaval. The COVID pandemic revealed disparities in healthcare and its effects on marginalized groups such as the Black community. The pervasive effects of structural racism affect all of us, including in medical education. We cannot and must not remain silent. As we honor Juneteenth, #BlackLivesMatter, and #WhiteCoatsforBlackLives, let us reflect on ways we can address racial injustice in our direct environment.

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By Al'ai Alvarez, MD|2026-06-16T16:16:05-07:00Jun 19, 2020|Academic, Emergency Medicine, Life|

EM Match Advice: Program Directors Reflect on the 2020 Residency Match

How competitive was the 2020 EM residency match? Although COVID-19 has changed some of the rules and planning for the 2020-21 residency application season, historical data still remains a helpful guide. We have updated our annual table summarizing how competitive the EM residency match was, based on National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) data.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2021-07-01T10:01:23-07:00Jun 7, 2020|EM Match Advice, Podcasts|

Social Distancing Simulation: Tips for Leading a Virtual Session With Student Learners

We’ve all had to get a bit creative over the past few weeks. COVID-19 has ushered in an era of not only pushing healthcare workers and hospitals into uncharted territory, but also challenging the structure and delivery of medical education. Simulation education is one of many teaching modalities that is affected by this change given its case-based, in-person structure with a team of learners. These characteristics unfortunately violate the 6-foot rule of social distancing. While traditional simulation is not typically conceptualized as a virtual modality, many of its principals can be successfully adapted for remote learning.

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By Ashley Rider, MD|2020-05-31T19:16:34-07:00Jun 1, 2020|COVID19, Education Articles, Simulation|

IDEA Series: Use of gamification through Clue: Pediatric Rash Edition

Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians care for anyone, with anything, at any time. This includes pediatric patients as well as adults. For those without advanced pediatric training, “sick kids” can be quite intimidating. Rashes in the pediatric population are often benign, but in rare cases they portend significant illness. Rashes are also frequent chief complaints; In 2015, there were 1,452,300 pediatric ED visits for “skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders” [1]. We sought to improve the teaching of pediatric rashes in our residency curriculum.

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By Peter Tomaselli, MD|2020-05-05T16:22:24-07:00May 13, 2020|Dermatology, IDEA series, Pediatrics|

IDEA series: The Bleeding Arm Tourniquet Simulation

Education in emergency response to trauma is a global health priority [1]. Mortality rates are nearly twice as high in patients with trauma in low-income as compared to high-income countries [2]. With uncontrolled bleeding as the number one cause of death from trauma, tourniquet application has been the focus of training programs, like the “Stop the Bleed” campaign in the United States [3]. Although understanding how to apply a tourniquet is a life-saving intervention, use of a windlass tourniquet may not be intuitive [4]. The windlass tourniquet in its simplest form is the “stick-and-rope.” Winding the stick in the tourniquet creates a mechanical advantage for providing compression. Simulation of the windlass technique can be used to teach management of uncontrolled bleeding. Here we describe a low-cost simulation model that combines low- and high-fidelity techniques to train healthcare personnel on windlass tourniquet application.

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By Lacey MenkinSmith, MD CTropMed|2026-06-16T16:15:39-07:00Apr 24, 2020|IDEA series, Medical Education, Simulation, Trauma|

EM Bound: Newsletter for medical students interested in EM

Are you a medical student, pursuing a career in Emergency Medicine (EM)? You are navigating your third and fourth years of medical school during an unprecedented time of the COVID-19 era. What if you can not get a visiting EM clerkship rotation? Are you automatically out of luck when it comes to residency applications? How do you keep apprised of timely, relevant information for residency application season? In an effort to support you and get ultra-prepared for the near future and EM internship, we are launching a monthly free email newsletter. Led by editor Dr. Sree Natesan (Assistant EM Residency Director, Duke University) and featuring an all-star, growing team of contributors, we announce the EM Bound newsletter.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2020-04-20T19:31:27-07:00Apr 21, 2020|Medical Education, Medical Student|