Pronouncing ALiEM

Saying “Academic Life in Emergency Medicine” is a mouthful. Over the years there has been great controversy on our team about how to pronounce the abbreviated name “ALiEM.” Is it a long A like cake? Or is it a short A like apple? People were pronouncing it all sorts of creative ways. In the hopes of making our identity clear, we had heated discussions about this on the team. After much debate (and punitive push-ups), we resolved to pronounce it with a long A – like “alien”. This applies to all our ALiEM projects and initiatives such as ALiEMU.

By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-01-28T21:36:23-08:00Sep 26, 2017|Academic|

IDEA Series: Teaching ECGs through a Written Competition

The Problem

ECG interpretation is a cornerstone of Emergency Medicine (EM). It requires both rapid identification of life-threatening abnormalities and fastidious attention to detail. This pairing can intimidate some junior learners, and identifying an effective and engaging method for teaching ECGs is important to resident education. We report a teaching method that addresses this problem with an annual residency ECG competition.

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By Sumit Patel, MD|2017-11-01T22:03:01-07:00Sep 21, 2017|IDEA series|

SplintER: A New on Orthopedic Injuries and Splinting

The purpose of the SplintER series is to teach the fundamentals and introduce advanced concepts of splinting to the Emergency Medicine (EM) professional. Humans have been splinting their injuries since 1300 B.C.¹ Although the fundamentals have not changed, splint selection and application require some thoughtful consideration. A 2017 prospective, observational study in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics demonstrated that more than 90% of splints applied in the Emergency Department were inappropriate (30% applied by EM attendings), as evaluated by orthopaedic surgeons.² While that number may not be representative in your institution, it certainly highlights the inadequacies that many of us feel when approaching a splint!

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By William Denq, MD CAQ-SM|2020-08-07T12:11:53-07:00Sep 18, 2017|Incubators, Orthopedic, SplintER|

IDEA Series: Video Review as an Experiential Model for Difficult Airway Education

The Problem

Difficult airways, including those that are edematous, burned, soiled, or traumatic, pose one of the greatest procedural challenges for emergency physicians. Furthermore, unanticipated difficult airways represent 5-15% of intubations in the ED. Emergency medicine residents gain experience with difficult airways largely through hands-on practice while caring for critically ill patients. The relatively low frequency of complex intubations, however, necessitates an educational model that extends beyond the ED and can be shared with multiple learners.
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By Terren Trott, MD|2017-12-18T17:25:42-08:00Sep 1, 2017|IDEA series|

ALiEM Awards 2017: A Call for Nominations

We are proud to announce the return of the Annual ALiEM Awards! Started in 2016, this was the first in its kind to officially recognize the hard work and creative energy that is required in the generation of social media educational content. We are excited to bring it back to shine the spotlight on another year’s worth of high performers and game changers in medical education!
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By Nikita Joshi, MD|2017-09-16T19:15:54-07:00Aug 23, 2017|Academic|

Education Theory Made Practical (Volume 1): An ALiEM Faculty Incubator eBook Project

education theory made practical cover page The ALiEM Team is happy to announce yet another eBook publication: the first volume in the Education Theory Made Practical series. This book was a labor of love written by the inaugural 2016-17 Faculty Incubator class. We are so very proud of all our Faculty Incubator alumni who made this happen. Their hard work has been compiled in this FREE, peer-reviewed eBook. We sincerely feel that it will be useful for all the educators out there, wrestling with the issue of integrating theory into practice.

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By Teresa Chan, MD, MHPE|2019-01-02T16:05:51-08:00Aug 18, 2017|Incubators, Medical Education, Professional Development|

Welcome our ALiEM Deputy Editor in Chief: Dr. Derek Monette

It is with distinct pleasure that we announce our newest ALiEM team member, Dr. Derek Monette. Derek is a senior EM resident at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program, newsletter editor for the 2017-18 ALiEM Chief Resident Incubator, and made his EM Match Advice debut talking about changing specialties in EM. Today we announce that he has accepted the newest role as the 2017-18 ALiEM Deputy Editor in Chief (EIC).

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2020-04-20T19:50:36-07:00Aug 16, 2017|Academic, Social Media & Tech|