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).
It has been 4 years since we launched the ALiEM Medical Education in Cases (MEdIC) Series, and we are very proud to have had 4 years of excellent engagement and participation from the FOAM audience with our interactive monthly discussions. This season has been a whirlwind. Together, we have explored challenging patient, learner, physician wellness, ethical, and assessment conundrums. We want to thank all of those who have written cases, acted as experts, and commented on the cases.
We are thrilled to announce that a compilation of the third MEdIC season (last year’s cases) is available for free download.
If you are a senior resident, this post is for you! Right now you’re juggling an array of responsibilities. From adjusting to your new leadership roles in the Department to applying to jobs and fellowships, it’s easy to let that pesky procedure you have always struggled with or confusing ECG finding slip by you. To help you solidify your skills this year, we have come up with a list of things to master before the end of the academic year. Take a look, and tailor this list to your background and training. Come up with a list of your own, share it with your mentors, and check off each one. Graduation will be here before you know it!
(more…)
Welcome to the beginning of the most exciting and terrifying time in your residency — the start to a new year! To help start the year off right a group of chief residents from across the country, through the ALiEM Chief Resident Incubator, have gotten together and compiled a list of ways for chief residents (and other resident leaders) to engage residents early to hopefully make this the best year yet of residency.
Ok, while we congratulated the senior residents in our last piece, but let’s be honest, YOU (the junior faculty members) are the ones who TRULY should be congratulated. You’ve survived residency, and now you’re the boss!
You’re probably sighing with relief at the moment. But eventually, you’ll ask yourself: “Now, what’s next?” Well, yet again, the ALiEM MEdIC team has some resources for you!
With consistent, adequate treatment, people with HIV have a life expectancy 
that is nearly normal. However, because HIV often affects the most vulnerable people in our society, getting that consistent treatment remains a real and important challenge. 30 years after And the Band Played On was first published, HIV/AIDS is now often viewed as a chronic illness, rather than the terminal diagnosis it was in the 1980s. For those born after the first AIDS deaths occurred in the US, it can be hard to imagine the fear, denial, stigma, and confusion that accompanied the early AIDS epidemic. Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On, is a classic work of investigative journalism that chronicles the response of the government, media, medical/scientific community, gay community, and society at large as the epidemic of AIDS unfolded. He portrays the prescient heroes that recognized the danger of AIDS early, but who also paid great personal and professional prices to confront the crises. Ultimately, the book shows the neglect of the early crisis by the government and the media, the battle within the gay community about the “appropriate” response to AIDS, and the apathy of society at large when AIDS was viewed as a “gay” disease.
While we congratulated and welcomed the interns with the list of Greatest Hits for Interns, it’s high time we actually congratulate and welcome you… the new Senior Residents! You’ve toiled through call shifts on off-service rotations, you’ve worked hard reviewing cases with junior residents and getting grilled you about the latest esoteric facts by the seniors! And now, you’re going to be in charge of other other residents!?! You are probably equal parts excited and scared… but more to the point you may be wondering – How does one actually be a great senior resident? Well we have some resources for you!