2020 Editor's Choice Awards

2020 CanadiEM Year in Review and Editor’s Choice Awards

In Editorial by Daniel TingLeave a Comment

2020 has transformed the idea of remote work across industries. As healthcare providers we are lifelong learners, and our education is a substantial part of our work. This year has reaffirmed the importance of Open Educational Resources, and Free Open Access Medical Education, within our communities. The changing nature of the COVID-19 Pandemic has required a nimble and dynamic response to adapt to novel and rapidly-changing information. As you looked for trustworthy sources to cut through the noise, we hope that CanadiEM was a voice that you could trust.  

At CanadiEM, there have been many exciting developments. We now have over 100 editors and our website averages over 115,000 page views per month. This past year was the first full calendar year in which regular monthly executive board meetings have taken place, and this has helped to galvanize our team towards many accomplishments. 

  • We launched a biweekly newsletter to update subscribers on curated content at CanadiEM. We are now up to 550 subscribers. If you aren’t already subscribed and would like to get in on this initiative, sign up here. 
  • We held our first virtual retreat to reflect upon blog strengths and weaknesses, build personal connections with our distributed team, and plan the future of the blog. 
  • We leveraged our network of CanadiEM collaborators to produce formal scholarship within digital education. This included a review of quality appraisal and appraisal techniques within FOAM,​1​ as well as a social media primer for scientists in low and middle-income countries.​2​ Several other manuscripts are under preparation by our teammates and we look forward to seeing them submitted and hopefully published in the coming year.

This year, we wanted to highlight our most-viewed posts and introduce the Editor’s Choice awards that align with our major three organizational values (Open Education, Mentorship, Collaboration). 

Our Top 10 Most-Viewed Articles from 2020: 

  1. Recommendations for COVID-19 Intubation: An Infographic (Patrick Boreskie)
  2. How to Read Patient Monitors (Megan Chu)
  3. Approach to Pain Management in the ED (Jana Balakumaran)
  4. Use of Anticoagulation in Patients with COVID-19 Infection (Johnny Huang)
  5. Quality Improvement in the Time of COVID-19 (Ahmed Taher)
  6. Interpreting Critical Vital Signs (Jana Balakumaran)
  7. Breaking Bad News (Laila Nasser)
  8. Surviving Sepsis Campaign: COVID-19 Recommendations (Ben Forestell)
  9. Introducing the CanadiEM Frontline Primer (Afsheen Mehar)
  10. A Guide to Charting in the ED (Stella Tung)

Editor’s Choice Awards

Project of the Year

The CanadiEM Frontline Primer 

Editors: Teresa Chan, MD MHPE, Afsheen Mehar, MD, Brent Thoma, MD MA MSc, J. Kevin Dong, MD CCFP-EM, Geoff Comp, DO, Jonathan Sherbino, MD MEd, Colm McCarthy, MD MSc(Ed)

An interactive project that covers the foundations of Emergency Medicine which we designed specifically for those who were re-deployed to the ED during the pandemic. The content within the frontline primer was also serially published for all to enjoy via the blog. You can read more about this initiative here.

Mentor of the Year 

J. Kevin Dong, MD CCFP-EM

As a recent graduate of the CanadiEM Digital Scholars Fellowship,  Dr. Dong has wasted no time in transitioning to the executive team at CanadiEM as the Director of Multimedia. In this role, he has had the vision and leadership to launch multiple new CanadiEM podcasts, in addition to leading a motivated team in developing the CanadiEM newsletter.

Collaboration of the Year 

American Heart Association / Heart & Stroke Foundations 2020 Guideline Infographics

Editors: Alvin Chin, MD MSc, Sparsh Shah, MD, Comilla Sasson, MD, PhD, Amber J. Rodriguez, PhD, Veronica Zamora

A capstone collaboration that highlights the most important updates from the 2020 Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, which is the first major update to the internationally recognized guideline in five years.

Looking ahead to 2021

HiQuiPS Incubator

The HiQuiPS (Health Informatics, Quality Improvement, and Patient Safety) incubator aims to dive beyond the basics of quality improvement and patient safety, nurture a strong community of practice among participants and contribute to the growth of the field. This virtual modular program will start in September 2021 and be supported by experts from across the country. Activities will include core content delivery, discussions with peers, and small group projects. Modules will include: Building a strong local quality improvement infrastructure; Augmentation between quality improvement and patient safety; Understanding and delivering on quality improvement scholarship; and much more! Applications will open in April 2021. For more information, email us at [email protected]!

Website Redesign

We heard your feedback about our website and want to make the site easier to navigate, while maintaining the eclectic content that reflects the practice of Emergency Medicine and makes the site great. We have launched a working group to address this issue and are hoping to implement changes in the upcoming year. If this project appeals to you, we still have room on the working group, so please reach out to us at [email protected].

To all the executive team, editors, reviewers, contributors, and readers – thank you for your continued support. Your enthusiasm and time are the only things that make the website possible and successful.  Wishing you a happy and safe 2021! 

  1. 1.
    Ting DK, Boreskie P, Luckett-Gatopoulos S, Gysel L, Lanktree MB, Chan TM. Quality Appraisal and Assurance Techniques for Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) Resources: A Rapid Review. Seminars in Nephrology. Published online May 2020:309-319. doi:10.1016/j.semnephrol.2020.04.011
  2. 2.
    Dong JK, Saunders C, Wachira BW, Thoma B, Chan TM. Social media and the modern scientist: a research primer for low- and middle-income countries. African Journal of Emergency Medicine. Published online 2020:S120-S124. doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2020.04.005

Daniel Ting

Daniel Ting is an Emergency Physician and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, based in Vancouver. He is the Editor-in-Chief of CanadiEM and a Decision Editor at the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. He completed the CanadiEM Digital Scholarship Fellowship in 2017-18. No conflicts of interest (COI).

Brent Thoma

Editor at CanadiEM
Dr. Brent Thoma is a medical educator, blogging geek, and trauma/emergency physician who works at the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine. He founded BoringEM and is the CEO of CanadiEM.

Teresa Chan

Senior Editor at CanadiEM
Emergency Physician. Medical Educator. #FOAMed Supporter, Producer and Researcher. Chief Strategy Officer of CanadiEM. Associate Professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University.