MEdIC Series: The Case of the Failure to Fail

Welcome to season 4, episode 8 of the ALiEM Medical Education in Cases (MEdIC) series! Our team (Drs. Tamara McColl, Teresa Chan, John Eicken, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Eve Purdy, Alkarim Velji and Brent Thoma) is pleased to welcome you to our online community of practice where we discuss the practice of academic medicine!

This month, we present a case of an attending emergency physician who struggles with the ingrained “failure to fail” culture amongst his colleagues when faced with a resident who has significantly underperformed throughout his emergency medicine rotation.

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By Tamara McColl, MD FRCPC|2019-03-30T21:40:32-07:00Jun 2, 2017|MEdIC series|

IDEA Series: Use of Online Interactive Platform to Incorporate Board Review into Conference

The Problem

Every year, emergency medicine (EM) residents take the In-Training Exam (ITE) to test their medical knowledge and predict the likelihood of passing their official written board examination upon completion of residency training. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires all EM residencies to include weekly didactics in order to build the knowledge base of residents and facilitate preparation for the written and oral American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM) examinations. These didactics, however, often consists of traditional lecture formats. In contrast, according to the testing effect, we know that taking a test on material improves retention more than just passively hearing or reading the information alone.
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By Brendan Munzer, MD|2018-01-31T10:01:45-08:00Jun 1, 2017|IDEA series, Medical Education|

10 Tips on How to Succeed Your First Year Out After Residency Graduation

If you are graduating from an EM residency this year, you may be feeling nervous (or petrified) about your first shift out on your own. You’re wondering how you can gain the trust of the nurses and doctors at your new hospital. Perhaps you are wondering how you will keep learning without the residency leadership forcing articles and lectures on you.

In this post we will give you our top 10 tips, each with a practical pearl, for how to succeed your first year out. These keys to success will help keep you from making common mistakes, blowing your chance at a good first impression, and also help keep you out of deep, troubled waters when it comes to HIPAA violations and keeping your medical license.

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By Christina Shenvi, MD, PhD, MBA|2021-05-17T11:35:38-07:00May 24, 2017|Professional Development|

IDEA Series: Interactive Practice Oral Examination Case Construction

The Problem

The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM), and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) require successful completion of an oral examination as part of the certification process for the specialty of emergency medicine. Residents are seldom taught explicitly about the process of developing oral board examinations. While deliberate and guided practice can improve performance in such examinations, understanding the design and structure of an oral examination can also ease anxiety about the experience.

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By Teresa Chan, MD, MHPE|2017-09-21T09:27:09-07:00May 18, 2017|IDEA series, Medical Education|

Our “User’s Guide to the EM Match Advice Web Series” is published in WestJEM

It’s that time of year again… when the sun is shining, the flowers are in bloom… and new senior medical students are preparing for next year’s Match.

Emergency Medicine (EM) remains a very popular specialty choice. EM enjoys a 99% annual fill rate in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match, with approximately 80% of positions going to U.S. allopathic senior medical students. Students seek many sources of career advice when preparing for their EM clerkships and the residency interview process. Unfortunately, career advice often comes from near-peers and medical school faculty members in other specialties, rather than EM residency directors and clerkship directors. Given the variable quality of information offered as ‘career advice,’ students can be left with inaccurate and confusing opinions about how to assess their candidacy and compete in the Match.

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By Abra Fant, MD|2020-04-20T19:46:59-07:00May 17, 2017|EM Match Advice, Podcasts|

MEdIC Series: Case of the Solo Senior – Expert Review and Curated Community Commentary

The Case of the Solo Senior outlined a scenario of an emergency attending who questioned the common consultant call-etiquette of not activating back-up call, whether that be another resident or the attending physician, on a busy call shift when the “solo senior” is obviously overwhelmed. This month, the MEdIC team (Tamara McColl, Teresa Chan, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Eve Purdy, John Eicken, Alkarim Velji, and Brent Thoma), hosted a discussion around this case with insights from the ALiEM community. We are proud to present to you the curated community commentary and our expert opinions. Thank-you to all participants for contributing to the very rich discussions surrounding this case!

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By Tamara McColl, MD FRCPC|2019-03-30T21:39:26-07:00May 12, 2017|MEdIC series|

2016-17 Faculty Incubator Year End Report: An incredible inaugural year

In 2016, we launched a little experiment in faculty development with an elite group of junior and mid-career faculty members from North and South America. Twelve months later, we are happy to report that we all survived… and thrived! It’s been one heck of a year! Read about what we did in our 2016-17 Faculty Incubator Year End Report.
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By Teresa Chan, MD, MHPE|2017-05-04T18:43:54-07:00May 4, 2017|Annual Report, Incubators|