4th years - How to do well on EM rotation?

[futureemdoc1]

How can a student shine during this rotation? My school didn't teach venipuncture at all.

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[Crayola227]

you don't really need that

it helps if you know how to suture skin, there's vids online for this and cheap ways to practice your skillz, inject lidocaine (you do know to pull back on the plunger, right?)

also rectal exams, I did dozens of them

I used the EMRA book Top Clinical Problems in Emergency Medicine, it was cheap or a gift from them when I signed up for a membership or something

it made me look pretty freaking smart, honestly, great differential and plan for the most common and serious complaints, I used it in an unrelated residency, actually, so I think it's pretty universally helpful

know how to take a super fast history, be up on your basic PE skills, a good neuro/mskl exam

there's all kinds of common emergent things to know about, read EKGS, eval CP, abd pain, DKA, trauma exam, chest radiographs (have a method like the ABCDEFG etc), x ray common fractures, etc

you'll get pimped on stuff like FOOSH (fall onto outstretched hand) and what to watch for (scaphoid), what to worry about if someone gets a nail through their shoe vs barefoot, which injuries get ppx abx (hint, any abrasion injury to the knuckles, you need to know if they really punched a wall, or a human face and those are human teeth marks, also, I love cats but they have the nastiest mouths)

basically EM clinical pearls you could call them

I had a pocketcard as well (probably from EMRA) that had the Ottowa ankles rules and all that sort of thing, so med calcs are good too

 

[jared_the_great]

• Listen to EM Basic +/- EM Clerkship podcasts.
• Install QuickEM on your phone.
• Learn differentials and workups for chest pain, shortness of breath, abd pain, and headache and have them down cold.