Ed weekly conferences

[shortbread9]

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I was wondering how many residents out there enjoy your weekly conferences? I am beginning to be very frustrated with the quality at my program and mostly b/c it seems to all be based around politics. such as...how we need to be moving patients faster, the percentage of walkouts, etc. It seems we get these talks ad nausea and despite the fact we do have regular presentations on "chest pain" etc....those seems to alwasy lead back to a discussion on doing things faster and better.
Is this typical at most residencies? i am at a very large academic place and wasnt sure if this happens everywhere or just at the large insitutions with big reps. i know we need to learn how to move the meat per say...but sometimes i feel that instead of trying to be a more competant physician during training...they couldnt care a less

 

[GeneralVeers]

The conferences I've noticed at my two programs were about the same in content, although my current program is definitely organized. As with all didactics, sometimes the lectures are good, whereas sometimes they are questionable. We focus mostly on the "core" concepts like belly pain, chest pain, rrauma, management of peds fever, etc. By your third year though, you will get tired of listening to lectures on chest rauma regurgitated from ATLS, or managment of ACS.

When I rotated in Jackosonville a student, I liked how the presented up-to-date publications, and thought was a useful adjunct. At Hopkins they have a very nice (though somewhat adversarial) M&M format.

 

[shortbread9]

yeah...im at hopkins...its defintitely adversarial..on every topic...

 

[southerndoc]

I really like our lectures. Topics such as patient flow, walkouts, etc. are discussed, but they are discussed during dedicated administrative hours.

Like Veers, my program also concentrates on core topics. We have case discussions during morning report, and actual lectures during a five-hour block once per week.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I really like our lectures. Topics such as patient flow, walkouts, etc. are discussed, but they are discussed during dedicated administrative hours.

Like Veers, my program also concentrates on core topics. We have case discussions during morning report, and actual lectures during a five-hour block once per week.

Our morning report is a case, and one resident runs through it as if taking their oral boards. I find it extremely useful, and excellent board prep.

 

[EMCC]

I was wondering how many residents out there enjoy your weekly conferences? I am beginning to be very frustrated with the quality at my program and mostly b/c it seems to all be based around politics. such as...how we need to be moving patients faster, the percentage of walkouts, etc. It seems we get these talks ad nausea and despite the fact we do have regular presentations on "chest pain" etc....those seems to alwasy lead back to a discussion on doing things faster and better.
Is this typical at most residencies? i am at a very large academic place and wasnt sure if this happens everywhere or just at the large insitutions with big reps. i know we need to learn how to move the meat per say...but sometimes i feel that instead of trying to be a more competant physician during training...they couldnt care a less

I can't speak for all the residents at my program, but it seems that majority of the residents enjoy our grand rounds. We have lectures every Thursday for five hours--with the last hour being a chief run hour. We typically have resident presentations for the first hour (2 residents), and then didactics the rest of the time. Once a month, we also have "EM Jeopardy" complete with buzzers, and it basically becomes a loud raucous affair.

When the head of our ED wants to address "patient issues," it is typically for five minutes at some point during grand rounds. To his credit, even when somone protests, he does not allow the conversation to go on for too long...

As for M&M, the head of our ED runs it once a month and isn't meant to "blame" anyone in the ED. Rather, it is focused more so on where we, as EM docs, can improve so that, for example, the severe DKA getting wheeled to the ICU doesn't code on the way...

I think it helps greatly that our grand rounds are very laid back. True, there are traditional lectures, but witty comments are heard pretty much every 10 minutes or so. It definitely helps keep the atmosphere light and breaks up the tedium. I personally can't pay attention for more than 10 minutes at a time, so it definitely helps...

 

[jaeida8]

I definitely enjoy the weekly conferences at Temple. Of course you will always have a lecture every now and then that lulls you to sleep, but one EMRAP called our weekly conference the "best grand rounds in the country" (Just one man's opinion though). We do case conferences where interns work through a case in oral boards format with a short lecture on the case's topic afterward. We have combined Radiology/EM lectures where the radiology and EM resident work together to create a lecture on a topic like Cspine, etc. We have lectures on core topics. M&Ms don't feel adversarial; I always feel like I pick up info that will make me a better physician. Overall, really good.

 

[southerndoc]

I have to give our ED medical directors and section chief credit for the way M&M is presented. The clinical chief (a fourth-year resident that spends a month doing administrative stuff, simulation, and teaching) presents all the M&M cases. Names are avoided. Individuals are notified that their case is being presented, but at no point are they called out or asked for their opinion/clarification. If they volunteer to speak, then they can. However, they aren't required to speak. The chief never asks "who had this patient?" or anything like that. The case is presented, it's discussed by faculty and residents, and then the clinical chief presents information found in a literature review before going on to the next case.

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

I am in my 'transitional' year where lectures are not mandatory, but I have went on occasion.

Ours are two days a week (which I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of...I'd prefer to get it over with in one morning... but we'll see once I am always going... I understand ours is broken up that way so that the ED does not get to out of whack while resident-less). There seems to be a mixture of attending topics (GME credits), monthly M&M with trauma, resident topics, resident 'follow ups' which is like a case presentation/discussion... occasional lab type stuff (tactical day once, fresh cadaver stuff, etc).

There is usually breakfeast, things are VERY laid back with some good joke cracking. From the few times I have went, I think they were beneficial and actually look forward to going all the time next year....

 

[awdc]

I've really been enjoying our conferences and time flies by for me. Occasionally, we may get a lecture from another service that could be more enthusiastic. More often than not, it's a very relaxed atmosphere and with the occasional smart comments and laughs. Our conferences (once a week for 5-6 hours) are a mix of lectures with one or more of the following on any given week, resident-lead follow-up rounds, EKG conference, board prep/Rosen's review, EM/IM case presentation, etc. Most every topic tends to relate to each other. Weekday morning reports are resident-lead and can be on any topic. Can't speak for other programs but I haven't found too much of the politics or ED-flow issues creeping into our conferences. At least not enough for me to notice.