What is International Emergency Medicine?
First and foremost, international emergency medicine (IEM) is a big tent. We’ve got clinicians with an interest in tropical medicine and trauma, systems experts, inventors, educators, missionary families, public health experts, thrill-seekers, and policymakers. A disaster response specialist who has a “go bag” packed at all times ready for deployment belongs in this tent, as does an epidemiologist based in the U.S. who analyzes data on cholera outbreaks in refugee camps. Because it’s a relatively new specialty there is the occasional squabble about what does and does not constitute IEM, but generally we agree that we are working together to [+]
ALiEM Faculty Incubator: Top 5 reasons we are excited about this opportunity for educator-scholars
There is a great need for faculty development, also known as professional development, in medicine and more specifically medical education. A recent JGME publication advocates for more online opportunities for faculty to join digital communities of practice and communities of inquiry to harness the power of experts and mentors worldwide [free PDF]. With our recent successes with the Chief Resident Incubator, which includes over 170 EM chief residents in North America, it was only a natural evolution for us to build a faculty-based incubator. Thus we are proud and excited to announce that applications are now open for the new [+]
PEM Pearls: Cardiac causes of pediatric chest pain
Children with chest pain commonly present to the emergency department. Both the child and family members may think their symptoms are due to a serious illness. Among adolescents seen for their chest pain, more than 50% thought they were having a heart attack or that they had cancer.1 In reality, only 6% of pediatric chest pain has a cardiac etiology.2 Nonetheless, extensive and costly emergency department (ED) evaluations are common and there is wide practice variation.3 But prior to reassuring your patient, what can you do to reassure yourself that your patient doesn’t need a more extensive workup? What would [+]
I am Dr. Brian Lin, Emergency Physician, Blogger, and Educator: How I Stay Healthy in EM
Dr. Brian Lin is an emergency physician who truly knows how to keep well! Despite multiple work commitments, he still finds time to engage in his interests, keep fit, and stay well. From completing half-marathons to training capoeira, Dr. Lin, constantly finds ways to keep things fresh. He even shares his tips on how to integrate wellness into your day. Here’s how he stays healthy in EM! [+]
MEdIC Series: The Case of the Cackling Consulting Resident – Expert Review and Curated Commentary
The Case of the Cackling Consulting Resident presented us with an interesting scenario that spurred quite an interesting discussion. In this case, we discussed a scenario where a consulting resident laughs when asked to admit a patient for social reason. What did the ALiEM community think of this case? Well, read on to gleam the summaries, or go directly to the blog discussion to read what people wrote! [+]
Ultrasound For the Win! Case – 55-year-old man with chest pain #US4TW
Welcome to another ultrasound-based case, part of the “Ultrasound For The Win!” (#US4TW) Case Series. In this peer-reviewed case series, we focus on real clinical cases where bedside ultrasound changed management or aided in diagnoses. In this case, a 55-year-old man presents with acute-onset chest pain. [+]
AIR Series: Environmental Module 2
Unlike the previous cardiology modules, the environmental module was comparatively under-represented in the top 50 sites of the Social Media Index. Below we have listed our selection of the 4 highest quality blog posts within the past 12 months (as of October 2015) related to environmental emergencies, curated and approved for residency training by the AIR Series Board. More specifically in this module, we identified 2 AIRs and 2 Honorable Mentions. [+]
MEdIC Series: The Case of the Cackling Consulting Resident
Welcome to season 3, episode 3 of the ALiEM Medical Education in Cases (MEdIC) series! Our team (Brent Thoma, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Tamara McColl, Eve Purdy, and Teresa Chan) is pleased to welcome you to our online community of practice where we discuss difficult medical education cases each month. As usual, the community discussion will be reviewed using qualitative research methods to produce a curated summary that will be combined with two expert responses to create a functional teaching resource. This month’s case features a problem that educators face when interacting with off-service residents. What is the role of an attending on one service when dealing with residents [+]
60-Second Soapbox: Maday (Name Game), Colbenson (Knee Immobilizer), Roland (Knowledge Translation)
Welcome to the newest iteration of 60-Second Soapbox! Each episode, one lucky individual gets exactly 1 whole minute to present their rant-of-choice to the world. Any topic is on the table – clinical, academic, economic, or whatever else may interest an EM-centric audience. We carefully remix your audio to add an extra splash of drama and excitement. Even more exciting, participants get to challenge 3 of their peers to stand on a soapbox of their own! [+]
AIR-Pro Series: Trauma (2015)
Below we have listed our selection of the 6 highest quality blog posts related to 4 advanced level questions on trauma topics posed, curated, and approved for residency training by the AIR-Pro Series Board. The blogs relate to the following questions: When to give tranexamic acid in the trauma patient The pregnant trauma patient Transfusions in the trauma patient Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) In this module, we have 6 AIR-Pro’s and we did not include any honorable mentions to prevent redundancy of the topics covered. To strive for comprehensiveness, we selected from a broad spectrum of blogs identified through FOAMSearch.net. [+]