Amy is a third year emergency medicine resident who loves listening to podcasts when she runs. She realizes that she loves using a variety of digital media to enhance her learning. Amy wonders if there is a fellowship opportunity where she can become a leader in digital scholarship. One of her supervisors asks her if she has heard of the CanadiEM Digital Scholars Program. With the advent of free open access medical education …
Sirens to Scrubs: Minor Head Injury
Paramedics are called to a skating rink, where a 45y/o female patient, Judy, has slipped on ice and struck her head. When they arrive, they find her sitting on a bench, alert and oriented with a GCS of 15. She is able to recall the events immediately leading up to the incident, and witnesses report a 30s loss of consciousness with no seizure activity. She has vomited once and continues to feel nauseated. …
Blood and Clots Series: Massive transfusion protocol: what is it, why does it exist, and when should I call one?
All the content from the Blood & Clots series can be found here. CanMEDS Roles addressed: Medical Expert Case Description A 32-year old woman presents to the ED following a motor vehicle collision with lateral impact (T-bone collision) and is brought into the trauma bay. Significant bleeding was reported on scene and the patient arrives looking diaphoretic, pale, and unwell. Vitals in the trauma bay are BP 104/64 mmHg, HR 128, RR 22 …
Introducing ‘Sirens to Scrubs’
Are you a paramedic or other first responder that has wondered ‘what tests will my patient get’, or ‘how is a shoulder dislocation reduced’? Are you a member of the Emergency Department team curious about what the paramedics actually DO before they bring your patients in? Then Sirens to Scrubs is for you! Patients and their families often meet a multitude of healthcare professionals during their emergency – firefighters, paramedics, nurses, emergency physicians, consulting physicians, and …
New CanadiEM Series – HiQuiPs
Are you starting a local quality improvement project in your emergency department? Or is there a safety issue that triggered an incident report? How about a new electronic health record system at your site that clinicians need to learn how to make the best out of? ED scorecards? A new system of audits? Have to complete a root cause analysis? So much change is happening these days in our complex emergency department environments, …
A letter to my younger self
I recently took an extended vacation at the end of residency, and had some time to reflect upon nearly an decade of medical training. I write this as an letter to my younger, naive self, in hopes that trainees may learn from my experiences. Dear PGY-1 Shahbaz, I have some big news for you: things are going to change. Don’t bother memorizing the SIRS criteria, its going to be gone in a few years. …