I am Dr. Reuben Strayer, Emergency Physician and Author of EMUpdates.com: How I Work Smarter
After a long break, we are back with a heavy hitter: Dr. Reuben Strayer (@emupdates). He is the author of EMUpdates.com, a treasure trove of emergency medicine wisdom. Highlights include a set of genuinely useful checklists, many airway pearls, an approach to opioid misuse in the ED, and much much more. Dr. Strayer regularly speaks at national and international conferences with a focus on airway management, ketamine, and clinical quality. Beyond his contributions to medical education, Dr. Strayer is regarded by his peers as an exceptional clinician. It is this editor’s opinion that this stems in part from a truly thoughtful [+]
I am Dr. Mahmood Hasan, Emergency Medicine Resident: How I Stay Healthy in EM
Dr. Mahmood Hasan is an individual who truly reflects the idea of “eat clean and train mean”. Now a second year resident from McGill University, Mahmood uses exercise and his social supports to help him destress from the demands of residency. Here he shares his tips for planning work outs and meals, while trying to juggle a busy schedule. Check out how he stays healthy in EM! [+]
MEdIC Series | The Case of the Unseasoned Senior – Expert Review and Curated Commentary
Last week, we launched one of the cases which was developed at the ALiEM MEdIC workshop at SMACC 2015. The Case of the Unseasoned Senior brought together learners, teachers, and colleagues from across many disciplines and specialties to discuss professional responsibilities, autonomy, and clinical supervision. We are now proud to present to you the Curated Community Commentary and our 2 expert opinions. Thank-you again to all our experts and participants for contributing again this week to the ALiEM MEdIC series. [+]
Utility of Pre-4-Hour Acetaminophen Levels in Acute Overdose
Case Presentation: A 37 y/o woman presents to the ED with altered mental status. The vital signs are within normal limits. The history is provided by a friend who states that the patient was normal 2 hours ago when they were together. When she returned home, she found the patient in this state next to an empty bottle of acetaminophen (APAP) and 5 empty beer cans. A recent loss in the family has led to some depression in the last few weeks. A battery of labs are sent off including a ‘tox panel’ consisting of serum EtOH, salicylate, and APAP levels. The presumed time of [+]
PV Card: Palliative Care Screening in the Emergency Department
What is Palliative Care? It is specialized medical care focusing on improving the care and quality of life for patients with advanced illness by decreasing suffering. It can be delivered concurrently with curative care. Early identification of patients who are likely to benefit is key. How do you decide whether your patient could benefit from a palliative care consult? Hot off the presses We just published in Academic Emergency Medicine a validated screening tool to identify ED patients who would benefit from palliative care [PubMed abstract].1 In an effort to accelerate knowledge dissemination, the checklist is reproduced here in PV card form. Be sure [+]
PV Card: One Minute Preceptor – NERDS Mnemonic
As we transition into the new academic year, rising senior residents and new attendings will face a difficult challenge: precepting a medical student or a new intern. Teaching in the Emergency Department is unique because it must be fast, efficient, and adaptable to the many different parts of our clinical practice. We are often trying to balance multiple patients in systems with numerous barriers, thus adding the responsibility of teaching can seem overwhelming. [+]
2015 ALiEM Essentials of EM Fellowship Winners and Runner-Ups
The 2015 Essentials of EM Fellowship competition was fierce with submissions by U.S. EM residents from around the country. Based on the four predefined judging criteria (design, relevance, content accuracy, and innovation), one submission stood out above the rest. Congratulations to the winner Dr. Gabe Sudario (University of California San Francisco-SFGH), who will attend the 2015 Essentials of EM conference in Las Vegas as the ALiEM Essentials of EM Fellow with all expenses paid. Check out today’s PV card, which was Gabe’s blog submission. [+]
MEdIC Series | Case of the Unseasoned Senior (SMACC Edition)
We had the remarkable pleasure of facilitating a MEdIC workshop at the Social Media and Critical Care (SMACC) conference in Chicago this past month. We shared our process with those who participated and spent time developing cases. We’d like to thank the participants from our workshop for their hard work! The below is one of the final products that our amazingly engaged and enthusiastic group come up with. The case generated meaningful discussion in our SMACC live session, and we hope that it will be as engaging in the online forum! We look forward to hearing what you think about our Case of the Unseasoned [+]
60-Second Soapbox: New podcast series featuring Drs. Lin, Riddell, Shaikh
We are excited to announce our new podcast series, 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. Don’t worry if your are microphone-shy. We will 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 Series: Respiratory Part 2 (2015)
We found an enormous amount of respiratory content and thus have divided the respiratory module into two modules. While the first module focused on general respiratory issues, this second module is focused on airway and pulmonary embolism. Below we have listed our selection of the 15 highest quality blog posts within the past 12 months (current as of March 2015) related to respiratory, curated and approved for residency training by the AIR Series Board. In this module we have 4 AIRs and 11 Honorable Mentions. We strive for comprehensiveness by selecting from a broad spectrum of blogs from the top 50 listing per the Social Media [+]