How to learn basics

[BrianD123]

Hi,

What's the best resource for learning the basic EM chief complaints and their workups? Still new to EM. Should I head straight to Tinitalli/Harrison's or is there a better 1st stop? Also where does everyone go to keep sharp on literature? Life in the Fast Lane?

Thanks

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[TooMuchResearch]

Hi,

What's the best resource for learning the basic EM chief complaints and their workups? Still new to EM. Should I head straight to Tinitalli/Harrison's or is there a better 1st stop? Also where does everyone go to keep sharp on literature? Life in the Fast Lane?

Thanks

What is your stage of training (i.e. how new?)?

 

[BrianD123]

What is your stage of training (i.e. how new?)?

Still an MS1 at one of the UC schools but 100% set on Emergency Medicine. Performing above average in class so far. I try and shadow at least 3-4 shifts a month in our ED. I know that the general consensus is to just focus on my pre-clinical years but I genuinely want to learn more about the field.

 

[engineeredout]

Your best resources at this point are to study everything you need to study for MS1 and MS2 years, a large amount of which will have nothing to do with your clinical practice, but if you don't get the grades in your classes and boards you won't be getting in the specialty of your choice.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Your best resources at this point are to study everything you need to study for MS1 and MS2 years, a large amount of which will have nothing to do with your clinical practice, but if you don't get the grades in your classes and boards you won't be getting in the specialty of your choice.

This. Study First Aid for Step 1. Seriously.

 

[e30ftw]

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you can probably pick both of these up from one of the EM residents you shadow.

good basics.

The most important thing for you to do at this point is focus on matching into EM. That involves doing well on your pre-clinical classes, getting the best Step 1 score possible, and getting honors in 2 or more EM rotations during 4th year.

You can prepare yourself for your 4th year rotations now by learning "nursing" skills like peripheral IV access, blood draws etc as well as helping out on easy stuff like I+D and maybe suturing if you do some self learning... doing this stuff early will help you stand out during your 4th year rotations.

Of course if your shadowing gets in the way of your preclinical studying you'd be much better off to focus on school than spending time in the ED as an MS1.

 

[BoardingDoc]

Still an MS1 at one of the UC schools but 100% set on Emergency Medicine. Performing above average in class so far. I try and shadow at least 3-4 shifts a month in our ED. I know that the general consensus is to just focus on my pre-clinical years but I genuinely want to learn more about the field.

Curiosity is good, but like many others here have said, you should be focusing on your grades and on step 1. If you want to get ahead of the game, spend more time studying for step 1. No program is going to give a crap how many shadow shifts you did and how interested you are in emergency medicine if you get a 205 step 1. Conversely, if you have done all the normal EM stuff but nothing unique, but you have a 265 step 1, you're golden. Keep the enthusiasm, but rethink your priorities.

EDIT: I'm not implying you need a 265+ to match btw. I'm just giving you two ends of the spectrum. There is obviously a wide world in between.

 

[Hamhock]

Agree with above. Memorize First Aid I first. Then consider other stuff. You are pretty early to be learning "EM".

However, if in your free time you enjoy reading emergency medicine blogs and such, go for it (I know someone else who does this. There's a podcast called EM Basic, which you may like. I have only heard about half of one episode, but it seemed to reivew the very "basic" work-ups. The early episodes were on things like "chest pain" or "pulmonary embolism".

http://embasic.org/ looks like it is still around...again, I have not listened to this enough and so I can't vouch for it, but it sounds like something at your level and something you are looking for

HH

 

[da8s0859q]

Go read Panda Bear's archived blog posts from when he was an EM resident into attendinghood. Fun reading. May or may not convince you to change specialties. I loved them. Wish he were still around.

Leave the actual emergency medicine content to a little later. My two cents.

 

[gman33]

It is great to be curious.
The best thing for your education is to focus on your courses and rotations.
This material will help you learn medicine in the broad sense.
That will help you once you get to EM.

Once you start clinical rotations and start seeing patients, you can think about their CC and start thinking about emergent diagnosis.

 

[Arcan57]

While it's great to have an idea of your future specialty, EM doesn't necessarily reward early specialization in the same way as other specialties. You need a more solid understanding of diseases than just what is pertinent to EM.

 

[SkiingDocMD]

First Aid for Emergency Medicine Boards is OK because it makes you feel like you're doing something. However that book is pretty thick to read in your spare time. A more time efficient / cost effective way is to check out the ABEM EM Model:
https://www.abem.org/public/publications/em-model/reference
This is a great list of "what you need to know in EM." There is a lot of redundancy and overlap too. Look up the items you don't know much about on wikem.org. If you still don't understand, read more about it on UpToDate.com.

You can get through most everything in about 2 weeks (if you're not reading too in depth).


I agree with the other posters though. You need to do well on your preclinical classes and step 1, just for the sake of being competitive.

 

[Birdstrike]

Hi,

What's the best resource for learning the basic EM chief complaints and their workups?

I would start with a three-year ACGME-accredited EM residency.

 

[TheBlueBlazer]

Steps and grades are important, sure, but what's most important is learning well the stuff that you're going to use your entire career - especially anatomy and physiology. You should by no means neglect the rest, but this is where the meat of medicine is. EM is interesting, because of its breadth, and lot of the classical stuff you learn in medical school does actually come up, vs ophtho, ortho, and some of the other super-specialized folks that are able to binge and purge a lot of what they learn. Take care to LEARN things rather than memorizing them, and it will pay great dividends. And consider things in the "how does this matter if I have a patient that is sick as crap in front of me" sense, and you'll be successful.

 

[He2]

It helps to get a meta of the important topics without getting too much into the nitty gritty. Things like the ACEP newsletter are helpful