What is a journal "impact factor"?
Journals use the numerical "Impact Factor" as an indirect quantitative measure of a journal's importance in the medical field and scientific literature. Thompson Scientific calculates the impact factor scores annually. This score provides journals with bragging rights, especially when it comes to marketing. Be aware that there are ways to manipulate the numbers a little and thus brings the true value of this score into question. How is the impact factor calculated? The impact factor is a calculation of how frequent a journal's articles are cited in a 2-year period. As an example, the 2009 impact factor for a journal [+]
Trick of the Trade: Toxic sock syndrome
The olfactory nerve of an emergency physician is exposed to a broad range of smells in the Emergency Department. I’ve learned that the stinky-feet problem is a commonality amongst ED’s around the world! I call it the “toxic sock syndrome”. There are two remedies which I’ve been told of: Nebulized oil of wintergreen Placing a open canister of coffee grounds next to the feet (I’ve never understood this. I would imagine it would smell like stinky feet in a cafe. Plus, what a waste of coffee!) [+]
TGIF: Collaborating creatively with great people
What part of your job do you love the most?In academic emergency medicine, nothing energizes me more than brainstorming with creative, like-minded, and motivated people. From my experience, most of my past major projects have all started in similar informal, small-group settings.For instance, the CDEM organization was built when a small group of undergraduate medical educators went to dinner during a SAEM conference. We conspired to build something bigger and better. Two years later now, we now have over 100 members and are a new member of the major interdisciplinary organization Alliance for Clinical Education.1. This week, I got a [+]
Educator’s portfolio
Are you a medical educator and can’t quite illustrate the importance and impact of your work in your CV? I’ve always had this problem when compiling and updating my CV. The traditional CV format caters especially to academic physicians who are active in public service, traditional research, and leadership positions. What about the great procedural course that you ran with stellar evaluations? What about the lecture you gave at a national conference? [+]
Trick of the Trade: Needle thoracostomy
On a shift last week, we had a patient present with a spontaneous pneumothorax. Not only that, but it was a tension pneumothorax. Although the patient was hemodynamically stable, he was very uncomfortable and really short of breath. To give us more time to prepare for the chest tube, it was decided to perform a needle thoracostomy. [+]
Hot off the press: Podcast on ED crowding and education
Dr. Rob Rogers (Univ Maryland) has come up with yet another podcast edition for the EMRAP Educator’s Edition website. In this recording, Rob interviews EM faculty about education issues. Go to EMRAP Educator’s Edition website to listen to podcast. [+]
Article review: Scholarly management as a medical educator
Are you interested in pursuing a career in medical education in Emergency Medicine? Do you know what that exactly means and entails? It’s not just teaching medical students or residents. It’s now much more than that. [+]
Sneak Peak "Trick of the Trade": Digital nerve block
The digital nerve block is common performed in the Emergency Department to provide anesthesia prior to wound closure. The digital nerves are typically accessed by injecting in the webspace on either side of the finger. Have you had patients start to get sweaty and anxious merely at the sight of your drawing up lidocaine in the syringe? Despite your reassurance that the 18-gauge needle that you used was just to move the lidocaine into the syringe and that you’ll be using a small needle for the procedure, they don’t look very reassured. Trust is key to having the procedure go [+]
Article review: CT irradiation exposure and risk
I’m still working on my 2009 ACEP Scientific Assembly handout for the LLSA exam test prep session (which were actually due yesterday!). Even though the conference isn’t until mid-October, the handouts are always due a few months earlier. And every year, it sneaks up on me! One of the articles I’m reviewing is about the risks of CT irradiation, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. [+]
Article review: Propofol (2007 ACEP Guideline)
Given all the recent brouhaha around propofol and Michael Jackson, I thought I would review the 2007 Annals of EM Clinical Practice Advisory paper on the use of propofol in the Emergency Department for procedural sedation. This is one of the 2009 Lifelong Learning Self-Assessment (LLSA) articles. Each year EM-board certified physicians are tested on 20 pre-selected LLSA articles to maintain eligibility for re-certification. [+]