Banishing Busy: Part 2
Medical professionals are busy people and exist in a constant state of “being busy.” How do we resolve chronic “busy-ness”? How do we manage our time effectively? In her recent talk at the CORD Academic Assembly 2020, Dr. Christina Shenvi, EM Physician and Associate Residency Director at UNC, provided 5 key actions to help us be productive, complete our work effectively, and strive for work-life balance. Dr. Shenvi recorded her lecture again to be shared with the ALiEM Faculty Incubator. This series of posts breaks down her talk into 3 sections in order to summarize her key points and to [+]
Banishing Busy: Part 1
Medical professionals are busy people and exist in a constant state of “being busy.” How do we resolve chronic “busy-ness”? How do we manage our time effectively? In her recent talk at the CORD Academic Assembly 2020, Dr. Christina Shenvi, EM Physician and Associate Residency Director at UNC, provided 5 key actions to help us be productive, complete our work effectively, and strive for work-life balance. Dr. Shenvi recorded her lecture again to be shared with the ALiEM Faculty Incubator. This series of posts breaks down her talk into 3 sections in order to summarize [+]
Silence is not an option: Addressing structural racism in medical education
The year 2020 has been a year of upheaval. The COVID pandemic revealed disparities in healthcare and its effects on marginalized groups such as the Black community. The pervasive effects of structural racism affect all of us, including in medical education. We cannot and must not remain silent. As we honor Juneteenth, #BlackLivesMatter, and #WhiteCoatsforBlackLives, let us reflect on ways we can address racial injustice in our direct environment. [+]
How I Stay Healthy in EM: Michael Paddock
Emergency medicine physicians serve on the “frontline” every time we walk into a shift but would be remiss to not acknowledge the unique challenges we have faced over the last few months, both as a specialty and as individual clinicians. Prevention of burnout and active wellness management is more important now than it ever has been. This month on our “How I stay Healthy” series, we’re featuring Dr. Mike Paddock, Staff Physician with the Regions Hospital EM residency program who shares his down-to-earth wisdom regarding what he does to thrive as a physician, educator, advocate, father, and friend. [+]
All-EM Residency Graduation Extravaganza: Save the Date
We invite all of you to join the first-ever all-EM residency graduation event to celebrate the #EMClassof2020 who are embarking on their professional careers in an especially tumultuous time in history. Although this online event cannot replace the experience of an in-person departmental event, we hope that we can all take a collective pause to realize how connected we are in EM and even find some joy in these dark times. As a testament to this momentous “leveling-up” event, world-class speakers, Dr. Esther Choo, Dr. Mel Herbert, and Dr. Amal Mattu will headline a series of well-wishes and inspirational words. [+]
ALiEM Statement Against Racism
Illustration by Dr. Moises Gallegos Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) stands in solidarity with emergency physicians and learners in denouncing the structural racism and acts of violence that disproportionately affect persons of color. ALiEM denounces the senseless death of George Floyd which adds to the ever-rising numbers of deaths among Black men and women. The dissemination of the now-viral video documenting Mr. Floyd's last desperate moments has brought a renewed public awareness to a disease that has for far too long afflicted this nation. We see the injustice and disparities in healthcare that are made even more [+]
Work Grief: A Primer for Emergency Medicine Providers
Heartbreaking patient situations are the backbone of Emergency Medicine. Whether it’s a new cancer diagnosis, telling a family member that their loved one has died, or the creeping dread that a mistake that we’ve made will negatively impact one of our patients, we all experience extraordinary stress in our day-to-day clinical practice. Most clinicians are not tasked with routinely sharing news about the violent, unexpected, and horrific life-changing situations that occur in the emergency department, and yet we are given so few tools to help us manage this firehose of grief. This article is intended to share some of the [+]
9-Minute Workout for the Frontline Provider
Providing medical care for patients at the frontline can be physically demanding. Exercise is an important part of a routine that can help mitigate the physiologic stressors that come with providing care at the frontline, but in the setting of decreased time and space, providers may have difficulty developing new routines. We worked with a physiotherapist to create an exercise regimen for frontline providers that requires little space, little time, and can still help keep us healthy in the face of an ever more challenging work environment. [+]
Welcoming PECARN to Twitter
Our organization has always been a champion and fan of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) research collaborative. We jointly worked on designing their official Head Injury Decision Tool found printed in various emergency departments around the country, featured several PECARN authors on our ALiEM podcast, and provide summaries of their 147-and-growing list of publications in our P3 app. So it follows that we are incredibly honored and thrilled to announce our Twitter collaboration. We will be helping to run their Twitter account. Join @PECARNteam and keep current on their growing list of publications, their clinical take-home points, [+]
How I Stay Healthy in EM: Sarah Mott
Times are hard, work is stressful. With 24/7 news and constant global pandemic updates, our once prized “work stays at work and home stays at home” mentality can be hard to maintain. With that, it seemed like an opportune time to revamp our “How I stay healthy in EM” series. In these posts, we will have a blend of community and academic EM physicians share words of wisdom, wellness hacks, and “a day in the life.” Please let us know if you have resources to share and would like to be featured or would like to hear from anyone in [+]