I’m Maxim Ben-Yakov (aka @DocMaximum) – PGY4 in the FRCP (EM) program at University of Toronto, and current 1st year Fellow in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Sick Kids. Often folks ask me: “what’s that awesome lecture or podcast you were talking about?” or “What do you think of this app?” Well this is the place where we are going to bring it all together. We’ll talk podcasts, apps, blogs, and anything having to do with technology and FOAM – anything that will make the learning of Emergency Medicine easier, and more entertaining.
This post will bring you the latest and greatest on alternative Emergency Medicine learning resources focusing on the available audio formats. Most of you may have heard of these Podcasts. They bring a fresh outlook on the stuff you may or may not have already read about in Rosen’s Emergency Medicine. If you’re new to FOAM and looking for some quality podcasts to download, you won’t need to search beyond this post.
Nota Bene: podcasts are touted by some as a “waste of time” – however if you are ‘wasting time’ already on the subway, at the gym on the treadmill, or waiting for Radiology to call you back – why not have a listen to a podcast or check out the new blogs out there? This is an enjoyable way of getting free lectures/talks from the best educators in world straight into your ears! But, of course, as with every lecture, you need to take everything you hear with a grain of salt and make your own conclusions based on what you read/see/experience.
Tech corner will be a multi-part series; we’ll bring you updates on the latest Podcast, Blogs, Apps, and online academics you should follow. So stay tuned!
Emergency Medicine Podcasts:
EM:RAP
Emergency Medicine: Reviews And Perspectives is a monthly audio series for emergency medical practitioners. Born in September 2001, it now is heard by up to 8000 subscribers every month and it is the largest audio publication in Emergency Medicine.
EM:RAP presents the best speakers from across North America, bringing lectures from many prestigious Emergency Medicine meetings, all in a tightly edited audio format. Emphasis is added through the lectures by internationally acclaimed hosts Mel Herbert and Stuart Swadron. It is available with an EMRA subscription. It is THE most popular podcasts out there and comes highly recommended. Some listeners complain that the jokes are immature and there’s occasionally too much banter… I think it just emphasizes that we’re not internists and know how to have fun.
Duration: 1-2 hours.
Depth of discussion: superficial to deep.
Cost: This is the only resource that is not open-access for EM residents, but the pricetag is worth it. It’s $50/year for residents or FREE with EMRA subscription.
EMCrit
Scott Weingart offers great insight into the fields of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care. He’s a double-trained ED-ICU doc that “brings upstairs care downstairs”! He is a sought-after speaker at national conferences and puts together a solid podcast.
Weingart is a brilliant Resuscitationist, Traumatologist, Inensivist, and Emergentologist – as such be ready to hear strong opinions and concepts which may precede our current understanding of things. As a resident or student you should be cautious about translating theory into practice unless your preceptor has heard of those same concepts and understands them as well as Weignart does!
Duration: 20-30 minutes.
Depth of discussion: very deep.
Cost: Free.
ERCast
A short podcast from Rob Orman focusing on a different topic each week or month. This is aimed at the average EM doctor, it’s not too cerebral. Dr. Orman offers commonsense nuggets of wisdom along with interesting interviews of specialists (e.g. a month ago he interviewed an orthopod about distal radius fractures). He’s also featured on EM:Rap regularly.
Duration: 20 min.
Depth of discussion: medium – just right for “take home message”.
Cost: FREE.
Emergency Medicine Cases
Straight from Toronto!! Put together by Anton Helman (NYGH) – a great podcast where Anton interviews some of the emerg docs from the GTA about different topics.
The podcast is free for residents, you just need to email him and provide proof that you’re in the program. Each episode presents cases to some of Canada’s leading emergency medicine experts and discusses “clinical pearls, important management issues and current clinical literature.”
Duration: 1 hour.
Depth of discussion: Superficial to deep.
Cost: FREE for residents/students.
The SGEM
The Skeptic’s Guide to Emergency Medicine is another Canadian product. Dr. Ken Milne, a rural emergency physician from Goderich, Ontario critically appraises one study each week and outlines the conclusions of the BEEM (Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine) team out of McMaster University. Expect to learn some EBM and enjoy each classic music from the 80’s with each episode.
Duration: ~20 minutes
Depth of discussion: Deep in the article reviewed
Cost: Free
SMART:EM
Scientific Medicine and Research Translation in EM. A highly polished podcast from NYC – brought to you by Drs. David Newman and Ashley Shreves (both are Editors on theNNT and MDCalc). Of note, Dr. Newman was the Keynote Speaker at CAEP 2012.
This is the podcasts for those who feel that everything you’ve been taught is a lie… and probably isn’t supported by evidence. The authors take “deep dives” into the literature and discuss controversial topics faced by Emergency Medicine while doing an amazing job of doing an exhaustive review.
Duration: 2 hours.
Depth of discussion: Very deep – may cause slightly brain edema from knowledge gained.
Cost: FREE for all.
PEM:ED
This podcast is put together by Andrew Sloas from the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Podcasts on bread and butter pediatric emergency medicine topics are released approximately once per month. Occasionally he brings on an expert speaker, but always bringing it right back home to the world of EM.
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Depth: Fairly deep.
Cost: Free
EMPEM
Another quality Peds EM blog/podcast out of Australia that is also published approximately monthly. Its Australian origin brings a bit of an international flavor to the podcast as occasionally they do things differently overseas. They are always evidence based and stick with a common sense approach.
Duration: 20-40 minutes
Depth: Focused and concise.
Cost: Free
Ultrasound Podcast
The newest and coolest of all with a simple mission of “making horrible doctors decent and good doctors great.” Matt and Mike present a video-cast more than a pure audio experience and review topics, articles, and practical stuff focused 100% on EM point-of-care-ultrasound. These guys put on conferences, have published a book, and have put out a new cool app… They’re definitely worth following.
Duration: variable
Depth: deep but no dyspareunia.
Cost: Free.
EMedHome
This podcast is brought to you from Baltimore, Maryland by Amal Mattu himself. It is broad in its topics and they often review articles published across the areas of Cardiology-Critical Care-EM. You will often find a pearl or a cutting edge topic review by the Master Mattu himself. And occasionally they even throw in pediatric topics. Highly recommended.
Duration: 1 hour.
Depth: Deep.
Cost: $30 with your EMRA.org subscription.
Free Emergency Medicine Talks
Free Emergency Medicine Talks was established by Joe Lex, a legendary EM educator. Basically, he has created a repository of recordings of the best EM lectures that have been given at various conferences and puts them online for free. As they are recorded talks (and not specifically podcasts), occasionally some information is missed due to the inability to see the slides, but there are spectacular talks published on the site regularly.
Duration: Generally ~1 hour.
Depth: Deep.
Cost: Free.
PHARM
PHARM brings something a bit different to the podcast table. If you’re interested in prehospital and retrieval medicine, this is the one to follow. Minh Le Cong is an Australian Retrieval Medicine specialist that pumps out both blog posts and podcasts like crazy. He also speaks a lot about difficult airways and novel uses of ketamine and has published some of the literature on the latter.
Duration: Variable.
Depth: Variable.
Cost: Free.
Conclusion
This post has gone over some awesome EM learning resources. Start by checking out the ones that sound the most interesting to you and you’ll be hooked in no time! Stay tuned for more posts in Tech Corner!
Peer reviewed by Brent Thoma
Latest posts by Maxim Ben-Yakov (see all)
- Choosing Wisely: Low Risk Pediatric Ankle Fractures - January 23, 2018
- Choosing Wisely: Distal Radius Buckle Fractures - January 16, 2018
- Tech Corner: Podcasts in Emergency Medicine - July 22, 2013