The First10EM monthly wrap up is a place for me to share updates about the website, about my academic life, and also interesting content, such as books, podcasts, and other FOAMed, that I have encountered in the prior month. Obviously the format means the focus is mostly on content I have found, but I hope the community gets engaged in the comments, sharing books, podcasts, FOAMed, or anything else that you think would benefit or delight the broader emergency medicine community.
This months video content:
Respiratory distress in a patient with a tracheostomy:
Avoiding conversations with neurosurgery: The BIG guidelines:
There is also a bunch of short form video content in multiple places. I think instagram reels might be the best place to keep track of those short article summaries, as the 1 minute limit on YouTube is a little tight for EBM. (Or if you are significantly younger and cooler than I am, TikTok will accomplish the same thing.)
Foohey’s Figures was also updated this month, and despite no coordination, she also created content focused on respiratory distress in the patient with a tracheostomy:
What I am reading
I have mixed feelings about Shadow in the Ward, by Ari Gray. It is a dystopian look at a future where AI and robotics take a leading role in medicine. There were moments when it felt like the author was inside my head; when the protagonist was parroting my thoughts. My guess is the author developed a lot of their philosophy of emergency medicine listening to the same greats that I did – Scott Weingartt seems to shine through in these words. There are aspects of this book that I am sure my readers will love. There are also aspects many will hate (I didn’t find it all that relaxing to be transported back into the worst parts of emergency medicine each night just before sleep.)
I honestly wasn’t that enthralled with Chris Hadfield’s first book, so I am not sure why I picked up The Defector (book 2 in the Apollo Murder series), but I am glad I did. It was a good (if not great) read, with a fast pace, and a good overlap of accurate historical fiction, Chris’ expertise as an astronaut, and a good old fashioned espionage / war novel.
I might have already included it, but Good Inside by Becky Kennedy is the best parenting book I have read. The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris (recommended by EMCrit) is similar in many ways. It is written as a self help book, helping people understand cognitive behavioural therapy, or the specific subset Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In many ways, the lessons here will be at least as important in parenting as the lessons from Good Inside, with plenty of synergy.
Interesting media
I like it when random content served to me on YouTube actually enriches my life or makes me think, rather than just wasting the hours away. Not sure I was expecting to get good parenting advice from a former NFL tight end, but this video on Tony Gonzalez’s 4 Strategies For Better Parenting was a worthwhile 5 minutes.
You can read about it from a number of different sources, but the decision of Queen’s University to transition to a lottery for medical school admissions is definitely interesting. Honestly, this was already occurring (there were too many applications to process, so who was offered an interview was already random), and so this is just codifying and standardizing the current informal and potentially biased process.
I found the Cautionary Tales episode “Andy Warhol’s Factory of Truth”, which digs into the concept of authenticity in art, really fascinating, and with broader implications than even mentioned in the podcast.
Of course, as a nerd, I like playing with google trends. This is just a fun graph I created on April 11 (3 days after the eclipse, if you have forgotten already) looking at searches for “eyes hurt”. (Of course, being a good scientist, I included a control group of “nose hurts” for reference.)
Sadly, I am only starting to watch Journey to the Microcosmos just as they announce that the channel will be retiring. That being said, the back catalogue of fascinating and beautiful microscopic footage is likely to keep me fascinated for many a sleepless late night to come. The video I am watching as I type this: Can This Baby Rotifer Escape Before It’s Eaten Alive?
I wasn’t planning on sharing single tweets in this format, but this video of Saturn ‘rising’ from behind the moon was just too cool for me not to share.
I am a big fan Steve Mould. If you are a nerd, you probably will be too. He goes to great depths to explain and explore simple scientific phenomena. This video is a great example of that.
My Favourite FOAMed this month
Pinto Pearls is a new FOAMed site, but it’s looking like a great addition. Check out this post on electrical burns.
OK, I know EMCrit makes this list every month, and you don’t need me to tell you about EMCrit. However, as a member of the FoundStab team, I think the standard operating procedures Scott is trying to build are a great idea. However, if they are really going to get buy in from the community, the community needs to be involved in their creation. So check out the intubation SOP, and provide your feedback: https://emcrit.org/emcrit/foundstab-intubation-sop/
I am sure anyone who follows me also follows Tony Breu, but I will include this here in case you don’t, and enjoy deep dives into human physiology. Right now, I am reading a great thread on the question: Why does giant cell arteritis (GCA) have a predilection for the temporal artery?
Quotes or Thoughts
“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” – Einstein
“Be careful not to compromise what you want most for what you want now.” – Zig Ziglar
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” ― Lao Tzu
