How do you find time to read?

[KeepJumping]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[myhandsarecold]

during fourth year of medical school.

like what i'm doing for my specialty.

 

[winkleweizen]

^ lmao

 

[bad virus]

during fourth year of medical school.

like what i'm doing for my specialty.

What was the point of your post anyway? Can you please fly away on your broom already. . .

Trolls . . .

 

[RPedigo]

Does anyone have any suggestions on finding time to read? What is realistic? Will it get easier to find time next year? Thank you for your help!

Do you have a commute? There are some excellent podcasts out there (EM Basic for basic EM stuff, EM:RAP for more cutting-edge stuff but they also have the 3C project which is a curriculum review, etc) that you can listen to in your car, at the gym, or while walking/biking to work. Although it's not "reading" it definitely is knowledge gaining. With my commute, I run through each EM:RAP in only a few days (45 minutes of driving a day) and so can listen to it multiple times or move on to another podcast. It's a nice way to get "free" knowledge because it's time you have to spend anyway and it can be used constructively.

If you can't hook up your phone to your car, installing a new car stereo is actually really easy and really inexpensive ($150-ish all said and done for a good one).

 

[Birdstrike]

.

 

[otacon88]

you're working 70-80 hours a week on EM months?

 

[BushDoc20]

i encourage all my interns to get as much of their required reading in audio format...why you ask? how to we remember the lyrics to a song or nursey rhyme...it's sung. how do we know the lines off a movie?? we watch it lots! listen to it on the commute home, while cooking, while in bed, i find the best place is the toilet....weird i know but hey i nailed my times tables! i tell my interns until you have specialised....don't think about having a life, the outcome is more rewarding but you need to concentrate so make it fun and not a chore!

 

[deleted65604]

i encourage all my interns to get as much of their required reading in audio format...why you ask? how to we remember the lyrics to a song or nursey rhyme...it's sung. how do we know the lines off a movie?? we watch it lots! listen to it on the commute home, while cooking, while in bed, i find the best place is the toilet....weird i know but hey i nailed my times tables! i tell my interns until you have specialised....don't think about having a life, the outcome is more rewarding but you need to concentrate so make it fun and not a chore!

Do they have ER textbooks in Australian?

 

[dotcb]

agree - podcasts, too many to name
listen in conference
ask your attendings and senior residents about their thought processes
learn beyond the patients you actually see - "What would you do if?..."

2 books (easily digestible in short 2-3 page chapters)
emergency medicine secrets
avoiding common errors in the emergency department
(I have no conflicts of interest in these books)

 

[myhandsarecold]

What was the point of your post anyway? Can you please fly away on your broom already. . .

Trolls . . .

lol, i see 4th year med students around that are pretty much slacking off and some are probably going to end up with "not at expected level" on their evals come fall.

so what do you tell them?

 

[deuist]

lol, i see 4th year med students around that are pretty much slacking off and some are probably going to end up with "not at expected level" on their evals come fall.

so what do you tell them?

I want 4th years to read Garcia's "The Art of Interpretation."

 

[pinipig523]

Slow and steady wins the race. That's how I get through the material.

 

[ToxicChic]

during fourth year of medical school.

like what i'm doing for my specialty.

I'm sorry, but what was the purpose of this post? Was the OP supposed rewind time and go back to his fourth year to study emergency medicine-related topics?

The OP is wrote this post to ask his(her) colleagues for ways to successfully and efficiently increase his fund of knowledge, so kudos to him. Before even writing this post, he had to first accept the feedback he has been given (which can be difficult) and then decide to put forth the effort it will take to improve.

OP- it’s really not too late for you to become one of the leaders in your class (if you aren’t already), and developing a plan increase your fund of knowledge does not mean you were lazy in medical school, that you are “the dumb resident” or anything else terrible about you.

This thread has many good tips on how to stay afloat when working a lot and trying to navigate through the huge sea of available textbooks, journals and podcasts. You’ll have to do this the rest of your life so it’s smart to ask around now for some good strategies. What worked for me during residency was reading something (even if only for 5-10 minutes) almost every day. I learn best from journal articles so that was mostly what I read- doing this can help you understand the level of evidence behind what you read in the textbooks, too. I thought the idea of playing EMRAP in my car sounded great but I was (and am) terrible about setting it up. Try a few different things and you’ll find what works best for you. Good luck.

 

[BushDoc20]

Do they have ER textbooks in Australian?

LOL nice

i guess it's easier for some to sit and read medical related books than it is for others. I love to read/listen to lectures/podcasts anything...i feel i've never worked a day in my life because i enjoy my job so much. there aren't many doctors out there that can say that

 

[gman33]

LOL nice

i guess it's easier for some to sit and read medical related books than it is for others. I love to read/listen to lectures/podcasts anything...i feel i've never worked a day in my life because i enjoy my job so much. there aren't many doctors out there that can say that

I think they were asking if you have audio versions of EM texts.
That's sort of what was implied in your previous post.

 

[tkim]

I think they were asking if you have audio versions of EM texts.
That's sort of what was implied in your previous post.

Here's my I&D knife. I can also use it for crocs though it's a bit on the small side.

 

[BushDoc20]

I think they were asking if you have audio versions of EM texts.
That's sort of what was implied in your previous post.

unless i'm wrong...that wasn't what they were implying at all! see the crocodile Dundee image for what was meant. mostly what i listen to is all audio because of where i work it's to expensive to get a book mailed in but i have fast net connection. if i'm ever in other states for conferences/lectures or anything i always go textbook shopping on all areas but mainly EM.

if the textbook is available or the book is available in audio in australia then thats what i prefer them and encourage them to do...


Tkim

 

[deleted65604]

unless i'm wrong...that wasn't what they were implying at all! see the crocodile Dundee image for what was meant. mostly what i listen to is all audio because of where i work it's to expensive to get a book mailed in but i have fast net connection. if i'm ever in other states for conferences/lectures or anything i always go textbook shopping on all areas but mainly EM.

if the textbook is available or the book is available in audio in australia then thats what i prefer them and encourage them to do...


Tkim

Thanks for getting my humor BushDoc. My comment was an attempt at casting a disparaging remark at Australia, while making a grossly ignorant comment with the ultimate attempt at irony (assuming that Australians speak a different language than English in their universities). Not many people find me funny, but I tend to laugh a lot at my own jokes. I must have more German in me than I thought (I've been told on the forum that Germans always have to explain their jokes).

 

[Braves123]

I want 4th years to read Garcia's "The Art of Interpretation."

damn son, thats many pages for an EKG book...

 

[Braves123]

I'm nearing the end of my intern year in EM residency and am worried about not keeping up with the reading curriculum in my program. I find it hard to sit down and read Rosen's or Tintinelli's. When I'm done working 70 - 80 hours a week with just 4 days off a month, I just want to sleep or do anything non-medical. I'm lucky if I have 3 hours between arriving home and going to sleep.

Some of my performance reviews from EM months have me "occasionally not at expected level" when it comes to medical knowledge. I'm not sure if this is true, or if I just don't have the time/take the time to demonstrate my knowledge to the attending during a busy shift. Either way, I still know I need to start reading. And, I don't like to be viewed as not knowing my stuff.

Does anyone have any suggestions on finding time to read? What is realistic? Will it get easier to find time next year? Thank you for your help!

what program you at? denver or cinncy? everyone I visited capped around 60 max hours a month. I guess if you only have three hours before you fall asleep, use 1.5 of it to read especially your beginning to get negative evals. Take half your day off to read. Thats what I did during surgery and medicine back in 3rd year, just gotta grind it out.

 

[BushDoc20]

Thanks for getting my humor BushDoc. My comment was an attempt at casting a disparaging remark at Australia, while making a grossly ignorant comment with the ultimate attempt at irony (assuming that Australians speak a different language than English in their universities). Not many people find me funny, but I tend to laugh a lot at my own jokes. I must have more German in me than I thought (I've been told on the forum that Germans always have to explain their jokes).

must be a German thing....my great grandfather was german.... Wilhelm keitel was his cousin.

 

[gman33]

Guess I misread it.

My question from your earlier post, "i encourage all my interns to get as much of their required reading in audio format"

Are there audio versions of the standard EM texts?
I didn't think so.

 

[JackShephard MD]

lol, i see 4th year med students around that are pretty much slacking off and some are probably going to end up with "not at expected level" on their evals come fall.

so what do you tell them?

In the other poster's defence, the OP has already gone through 4th year.

So your post, while it may be wise, is pretty obnoxious and troll-like in this case.

What do you tell them? Advice that can be of benefit, not "I told you so or you should have done this" comments.

I can see you telling the AIDS patient, "Well, first thing is don't have unprotected sex. That's what you need to do."

 

[BushDoc20]

Guess I misread it.

My question from your earlier post, "i encourage all my interns to get as much of their required reading in audio format"

Are there audio versions of the standard EM texts?
I didn't think so.

most you can now get either the CD or Textbook....i encourage the CD...you have to understand that what is standard in say UCLA is not standard in UNSW (university of NSW) that in the 21st century you now have the option of either audio or text. So therefore i stand by what i said and if you read further on you'll also notice i said it's expensive to have multiples of books sent to the NT....theres mail about 2-3 times a week and 1 flight a week in and out of Alice springs. the train will stop and do a mass delivery of packages every 4wks....so how would you encourage interns to get their reading done??

 

[KeepJumping]

I really appreciate everyone's constructive input and am now planning to study by audio. I'm also going to look into the two books mentioned above. Those of you who mentioned "5 minutes" are right. Just getting started with a solid plan and daily habit is half of the battle. Thank you!!