Happy New Year

I wrote the first blog post on First10EM in 2015, so as the calendar tips into 2020 it means that I have been doing this for 5 years. (Those early posts were pretty brutal, but I think the quality has improved with time. Thank you for sticking with me.) I consider it an incredible privilege to have an audience. It amazes me that so many people are interested in my thoughts about medicine. I just wanted to start the year by saying thank you.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for engaging. Thank you for sharing the blog with your friends and colleagues. Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way.

The FOAMed community has enriched my career in so many ways. It has made me a better doctor. I think it has made me a better human being. Engagement with this community has inspired me like nothing else. Engagement with this community will allow me to have a much longer career in medicine. Although life can get busy, and I am sometimes slow to respond to emails and comments on the blog, please keep engaging. Hearing from you is what makes running First10EM worthwhile.

Looking forward, I might have some big requests for you in the future. I love this blog, but I probably need to find a way to make it sustainable in the long term. I also need guidance from you on the best ways to improve this site and make it more valuable to you. (I will release a survey at some point, but you can leave me feedback at any time using the contact form.)

I will ask you one favour as we start 2020. Over the last 5 years I have written more than 500,000 words as part of more than 250 blog posts. I enjoyed writing those posts, but the real value is in the readers. My request: if you enjoy this blog, please share it. My audience only grows by word of mouth, so the most valuable gift I can receive is a recommendation to a potential reader. If you think it will help them, tell your students about the blog. If there is a post you think is particularly good, share it with your colleagues. Even older posts are new for someone. These shares really help keep this blog alive.

Thank you! I hope you are all recovering from what I am sure was an overly busy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Justin