Rib Fractures in Older Adults – What’s the Big Deal?
Blunt chest trauma from falls or motor vehicle collisions are a common reason for ED visits and a common source of rib fractures. While many patients with rib fractures can be discharged home with oral analgesics and an incentive spirometer, certain patients are at much higher risk for morbidity and mortality. This post will look at which patients are at risk, what factors predict increased mortality, and inpatient interventions that can reduce mortality, with a focus on the risks in older adults. [+]
The McMAP Project | #FOAMed Assessment Resources
For all you medical education folks out there, you will know that learner assessment is a really hot topic these days. Competency-based medical education (CBME), entrustable professional activities (EPAs), milestones… These are all the fancy new terms that are floating out of most residency educator’s mouths. Herein we present our McMaster Modular Assessment Program (McMAP) in e-book form, courtesy of ALiEM Press. [+]
I am Dr. J. Scott Wieters, Director of Undergraduate Medical Education at Texas A&M: How I Work Smarter
Dr. J. Scott Wieters (@EMedCoach) is a community EM doc turned academician 4 years ago. Looks like Dr. Wieters found his calling. As the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education Texas A&M COM he has received his medical school’s teaching award 4 years yeas in a row, and it’s easy to see why. As a newly FOAMed convert, he has started contributing on the REBELEM blog and has shown some real speaking skills. This up and coming clinician educator was nominated by Dr. Ben Smith. Dr. Wieters took a few moments to graciously share his insights into work, life, and being efficient. [+]
I am Dr. Chau Pham, Coordinator of the High Performance Physician Program: How I Stay Healthy in EM
Dr. Chau Pham has got wellness locked down! Throughout her life, she has always somehow created an environment of wellness while adapting to various situations. Most recently she used these skills to weather the many challenges of being a new mother. Despite having two little ones at home, she still wears many other hats, including the Director of Medical Missions for the national charity, Canadians Helping Kids in Vietnam. In person, Dr. Chau Pham has an incredible lightness of being and is totally zen! Here’s how she stays healthy in EM! [+]
MEdIC Series | The Case of the Flirtatious Patient
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. [+]
Announcing 2015-2016 ALiEM Social Media and Digital Scholarship Fellowship
We are very excited to begin the recruitment for the 2015-2016 ALiEM Social Media and Digital Scholarship Fellowship! The application process for this virtual fellowship is open as of right now to interested Emergency Medicine residents and medical students, including those who are international! [+]
Sneak peek at ALiEMU: Free on-demand MOOC-like courses featuring the AIR Series
We are incredibly excited to announce the development of our newest project — ALiEMU. This top-secret project has been in the works for only 3 months, but has gained incredible momentum thanks to our all-star team, led by Dr. Chris Gaafary, who is our ALiEMU Chief of Design and Development… while he is not busy being an incoming EM chief resident at the University of Tennessee. What is ALiEMU? The one-liner is: A free educational website which hosts free, on-demand e-courses, featuring the AIR series as the inaugural course. [+]
Therapeutic Hypothermia After Pediatric Cardiac Arrest Out-of-Hospital (THAPCA-OH) Trial
Currently, guidelines recommend therapeutic hypothermia for comatose adults with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). A recent trial of adults with OHCA showed that therapeutic hypothermia with the use of a targeted temperature of 33°C vs maintained therapeutic normothermia of 36°C, did not improve outcomes. There is a paucity of randomized trials of therapeutic hypothermia in children with OHCA, but sometimes adult trials get extrapolated to pediatrics. There are differences between adult and pediatric populations with OHCA, which makes it difficult to extrapolate the results of the adult trials to a pediatric population. [+]
I am Dr. Jeremy Faust, Co-Host of FOAMCast: How I Work Smarter
Dr. Jeremy Faust is a EM resident of many talents. His accomplishment are wide and varied from his many musical awards, to his work with grammy award winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth, to his column in ACEPnews, to his appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show speaking on the Ebola crisis, to his upcoming SMACC Chicago talk. He’s well known in the FOAM world and, for the last year, has been producing quality FOAM core content with Lauren Westafer on their podcast: FOAMCast. Dr. Jeremy Faust, following his own mantra, broke the mold, submitting his How I Work Smarter column [+]
EM Match Advice: VSAS 101 – Securing an away EM rotation
Dr. Michael Gisondi has recruited another all-star cast of residency program leaders around the United States to share their sage wisdom about the Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS). This centralized process to coordinate visiting clerkship rotations first began in 2008 and now almost all medical schools participate. Because anecdotally the VSAS application process has been challenging, we gathered some experts to share their insights in a podcast. [+]