Inspired by the Harvard Business Review Cases, the MEdIC Series puts difficult medical education cases under a microscope. From 2013-2018, on the fourth Friday of the month we will pose a challenging hypothetical dilemma, moderate a discussion on potential approaches, and recruit medical education experts to provide “Gold Standard” responses. Cases and responses will be made available for download as individual PDFs (i.e. one per case). Year 1-4 are also available as e-book compendiums (see below). Feel free to use them locally for your own education or in group activities with others!
Read more about the background of our process in our paper within the leading medical education journal Academic Medicine:
Chan TM, Thoma B, Lin M. Creating, Curating, and Sharing Online Faculty Development Resources. Academic Medicine. 2015;90(6):785-789. doi: 10.1097/acm.0000000000000692
Our Purpose
The purpose of the MEdIC series is to create resources that allow you to engage in ‘guerrilla’ faculty development – enticing and engaging individuals who might not have time to attend faculty development workshops to think about challenging cases in medical education. We hope to support our readership’s development by creating Expert Peer Reviewed content featuring prominent thinkers in emergency medicine (and beyond) on key topics.
Meet Our MEdiC Team
Series Editors
- Tamara McColl, MD FRCPC MEd(c)
- Teresa Chan, BEd MD FRCPC MHPE
Assistant Editors
- S. Luckett-Gatopoulos, MD MSc
- John Eicken, MD
- Eve Purdy, BHSc MD
- Alkarim Velji, MD
- Brent Thoma, MA MD FRCPC MSc
Season Five Cases (2017-ongoing)
| Case | Original Post | Wrap Up Post | PDF link |
| Case 5.1: The Case of the Discriminatory Patient | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.2: The Case of the Difficult Debrief | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.3: The Case of the M&M Shame Game | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.4: The Case of the Technologically-Challenged Academic | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.5: The Case of the Night Shift Stimulants | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.6 The Case of the Post-Paternity blues | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.7 The Case of the Orphaned Patient | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.8 The Case of the Overwhelmed Senior | Link | Link | |
| Case 5.9 The Case of the Medication Mishap | Link | Link |
Season Four Cases (2016-2017)
| Case | Original Post | Wrap Up Post | PDF link |
| Case 4.1: The Case of Cognitive Overload | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.2: The Case of the Overly Attentive Attending | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.3: The Case of the Fatiguing Fourth Year | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.4: The Case of the Resident-At-Risk | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.5: The Case of Shifting Expectations | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.6: The Case of the Lazy Learners | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.7: The Case of the Solo Senior | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.8: The Case of the Failure to Fail | Link | Link | |
| Case 4.9: The Case of the Competency Conundrum | Link | Link |
Season Three Cases (2015-2016)
| Case | Original Post | Wrap Up Post | PDF link |
| Case 3.1: The Case of the FOAM promotion | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.2: The Case of the Patient with a No Learner Policy | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.3: The Case of the Cackling Consulting Resident | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.4: The Case of the Awkward Assessors | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.5: The Case of the Catastrophic Classroom | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.6: The Case of the Pimping Physician | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.7 : The Case of the Fibbing First Year | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.8 : The Case of the Terrible Code | Link | Link | |
| Case 3.9: The Case of the Honorary Authorship | Link | Link |
Season Two Cases (2014-2015)
| Case | Original Post | Wrap Up Post | PDF link |
| Case 2.1: The Case of the Backroom Blunder | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.2: The Case of the Debriefing Debacle | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.3: The Case of the Ebola Outbreak Ethics | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.4: The Case of the Late Letter | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.5: The Case of Breaking Bad News Badly | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.6: The Case of the Returning Traveller | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.7: The Case of the Financial Fiasco | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.8: The Case of the FOAM Faux Pas | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.9: The Case of the Flirtatious Patient | Link | Link | |
| Case 2.10: The Case of the Unseasoned Senior | Link | Link |
Season One Cases (2013-2014)
| Case | Original Post | Wrap Up Post | PDF link |
| Case 1.1: The Case of the Difficult Consult | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.2: The Case of the Facebook Faceplant | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.3: The Case of the Woman in White | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.4: The Case of the New Job Negotiations | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.5: The Case of the Magnificent Mentor | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.6: The Case of the Terrible Teammate | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.7: The Case of the Culture Clash | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.8: The Case of the Not-so-Humorous Humerus | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.9: The Case of the Unexpected Outcome | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.10: The Case of the Exasperated Educator | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.11: The Case of the Justified Junior | Link | Link | |
| Case 1.12: The Case of the Absentee Audience | Link | Link |
Free e-Books: MEdIC Season 1-3 Compilations
Click on this direct iTunes link or the picture below to go there. You may also go to our ResearchGate link to get the PDF version if you are unable to access the iTunes e-book.
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2555.1522
Newly available (July 20, 2017)
The Volume 4 e-book is out now. You may go to our ResearchGate link to get the PDF version, and it is also available on iTunes as an e-book.
Did you know…?
ALiEM MEdIC series was selected as a “Top Five What Works” abstract and will be presented from the podium at the International Conference on Residency Education in 2014. Dr. Teresa Chan will represent the ALiEM Team. On October 25, 2014, Dr. Chan also presented the first ALiEM Press production the ALiEM MEdIC E-Book.
Medical students, residents and staff alike have found themselves in conversations with patients about non-medical topics. But what happens when those topics of conversation become too personal? Please join us in discussing the case of the flirtatious patient. We would appreciate your thoughts and advice.
The Case of the FOAM Faux Pas has stimulated interesting discussion over the past week. The FOAM community clearly was interested in discussing this issue, and it most definitely showed. We are now proud to present to you the Curated Community Commentary and our two expert opinions. Thank-you again to all our experts and participants for contributing again this week to the ALiEM MEdIC series.
The Case of the Returning traveller generated thoughtful discussion over the past week. We are now proud to present to you the Curated Community Commentary and our two expert opinions. Thank-you again to all our experts and participants for contributing again this week to the ALiEM MEdIC series.