Category: Clerkship Excellence

Dr. Matt Tews from the Medical College of Georgia (formerly with the Medical College of Wisconsin) talks about the development and importance of an M3 curriculum in emergency medicine.

Developing a Third-year Emergency Medicine Medical Student Curriculum: A Syllabus of Content

Implementing a third-year emergency medicine medical student curriculum

Surviving the third year of medical school can be tough, when the traditional classrooms are replaced by clinics, wards, and operating rooms. So to learn more about how to be successful in this crucial year, we turned to the experts. Part 2 of 2.

Surviving the third year of medical school can be tough, when the traditional classrooms are replaced by clinics, wards, and operating rooms.  So to learn more about how to be successful in this crucial year, we turned to the experts.

Photo: Bill Dickinson via Compfight

Wish you were faster in the ED?  Believe it or not, the key to being more efficient is NOT about speed or the ability to multitask.  Instead, becoming an efficient emergency physician takes practice, experience, and the use of some key strategies to increase your productivity.  Be prepared to work hard, work smart, and learn how to task-switch effectively.

In addition, I highly recommend you read this important and informative letter, written by the CDEM Executive Committee, addressing the recent ranking of EM residency programs by U.S. News and World Report and Doximity.

And as an added bonus, check out this just-released video on presenting patients in the ED, put together by some amazingly talented peeps at EMRA and CDEM.  It is hot stuff.

References

1. Kee R, Knott JC, Dreyfus S, Lederman R, Milton S, Joe K. One hundred tasks an hour: an observational study of emergency department consultant activities. Emerg Med Australas. 2012;24(3):294-302.
2. Stephens RJ, Fairbanks RJ. Humans and multitask performance: let’s give credit where credit is due. Acad Emerg Med. 2012;19(2):232-4.
3. Chisholm CD, Dornfeld AM, Nelson DR, Cordell WH. Work interrupted: a comparison of workplace interruptions in emergency departments and primary care offices. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;38(2):146-51.
4. Chisholm CD, Weaver CS, Whenmouth L, Giles B. A task analysis of emergency physician activities in academic and community settings. Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58(2):117-22.
5. Chisholm CD, Collison EK, Nelson DR, Cordell WH. Emergency department workplace interruptions: are emergency physicians “interrupt-driven” and “multitasking”?. Acad Emerg Med. 2000;7(11):1239-43.
6. Laxmisan A, Hakimzada F, Sayan OR, Green RA, Zhang J, Patel VL. The multitasking clinician: decision-making and cognitive demand during and after team handoffs in emergency care. Int J Med Inform. 2007;76(11-12):801-11.
7. Westbrook JI, Woods A, Rob MI, Dunsmuir WT, Day RO. Association of interruptions with an increased risk and severity of medication administration errors. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(8):683-90.Photo above  Antoine Valentini via Compfight

How do you get from the classroom to the clinic or hospital ward?  How do you translate knowledge into clinical practice?  Using cognitive strategy techniques can help you understand the medical decision making process.  But beware of bias…

References

1. Sandhu HSS, Carpenter CR. Clinical decision making: opening the black box of cognitive reasoning. Ann Emerg Med. 2006;48:713-719.

2. Croskerry P. Achieving quality in clinical decision making: cognitive strategies and detection of bias. Acad Emerg Med 2002;9:1184–1204.

3. Kovacs G, Croskerry P. Clinical decision making: an emergency medicine perspective. Acad Emerg Med. 1999;6:947–52.

4. Croskerry, P. The Importance of Cognitive Errors in Diagnosis and Strategies to Minimize Them. Acad. Med. 2003;78:775–780.

Photo Credit: Charly W. Karl via Compfight