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. [+]
Design Challenge | An ALiEM Fellows Project
Design thinking is a concept that has recently taken the business world by storm, and more recently it has begun to creep into other fields, like education! At the core of it, the idea behind design thinking is to encourage designers to think about how they might solve problems that are experienced in the world – to think like engineers and architects, and focus on building solutions for end users. As a part of their fellowship, the 2014-15 ALiEM Fellows (Scott Kobner, BS and Sam Shaikh, DO) were each tasked with a different design job a few months ago. Click below [+]
Ultrasound For The Win! Case – 101M with Altered Mental Status #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 101-year-old man presents after being found down with altered mental status. [+]
Ketamine for Excited Delirium Syndrome
Excited delirium syndrome is defined as “a syndrome of uncertain etiology characterized by delirium, agitation, and hyperadrenergic autonomic dysfunction”.1 You may have encountered a patient like this in the ED or prehospital setting. Although the etiology is impossible to determine in many cases, stimulant abuse and other drugs are involved in a majority of cases. An 8% mortality has been ascribed to Excited Delirium Syndrome, resulting from hyperthermia, severe metabolic acidosis, and cardiovascular collapse. [+]
I am Dr. Rob Woods, Program Director, Medical Advisor, and STARS Transport Physician: How I Stay Healthy in EM
Dr. Rob Woods (@robwoodsuofs) is an individual that is truly committed to self-improvement and, in terms of wellness, he has exceeded. Currently, he is the program director of the University of Saskatchewan FRCPC EM Program, Medical Advisor to Ground Ambulance Services, and a STARS (HEMS) Transport Physician. How he excels in all these jobs and still has time to be known as a loving father and husband, amazing Program Director, and CrossFitter is incomprehensible! But it may have something to do with the fact that he has mastered time management. A great competitor on and off the field, Dr. Woods is never afraid [+]
Dear Residents: 10 Things Your New Chiefs Want You to Know
This month starts our inaugural ALiEM Chief Resident Incubator and this post is the culmination of a 7-day intensive writing project by our 100+ Chief Residents. Incredibly we were impressed by the caliber of writing and insightfulness of our members. Congratulations especially to the lead editors, Dr. Melissa Joseph (LAC+USC) and Dr. Jimmy Lindsey (Univ of Chicago). Looking forward to an exciting year ahead of us! 10 Things Your New Chiefs Want You to Know [+]
APPLY NOW: Essentials of Emergency Medicine & Education Fellowship Program
Who has NOT heard of the Essentials of Emergency Medicine (EEM) conference? It is one of the largest live EM educational conferences in the world with over 2,000 attendees that I have had the pleasure to speak at a few times. The conference planners, led by Dr. Paul Jhun and Dr. Mel Herbert, are creating an amazing opportunity for U.S. EM residents to attend their upcoming EEM conference at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas (October 13-15, 2015). [+]