Tactical Medicine News Blog

We are very excited this month to bring you our fourth ALiEM-Annals of EM Global Journal Club on the use of age-adjusted D-dimer levels to help exclude the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). We hope you will participate in an online discussion of the four posted questions below from now until August 29th. Respond by commenting below or tweeting (#ALiEMJC). Mark your calendars: On Thursday, August 28th at 16:30 CST (17:30 EST), we will be hosting a 30-minute live Google Hangout with Drs. Jeff Kline and Jonathan Kirschner, the authors of the Annals of Emergency Medicine Journal Club for the ADJUST-PE Trial, that is informed by the discussion. Later this year, a summary of this journal club will hopefully be published in Annals of EM.

In the first post for the “How I Work Smarter” series, I called out Dr. Esther Choo (@choo_ek), who then called out superstar educator Dr. Lainie Yarris (@lainieyarris) from OHSU. A quick Pubmed search of her name scrolls on and on, that I can’t even do justice about summarizing. Oh, and did I mention that she’s also the residency director for her department’s EM program? She was featured on a recent EM Match Advice Google Hangout video. Lainie kindly shares her secrets on working smarter.

Over the last several years, ALiEM has recruited a team of regular contributors, each with their own individual passions within the entire breadth of Emergency Medicine. ALiEM has provided these individuals with a global platform capable of carrying their message to a target audience of thousands of regular subscribers. Furthermore, the evolution of a rigorous pre-publication Expert Peer Review process has helped ensure that the content is especially polished and scientifically accurate. Today marks a new day. The overwhelming success of the website and editorial process has led us to what we feel is the next step for this academic blog and online medical education: peer-reviewed community content submission.

Today launches a series of Google Hangout videos, which was created and expertly facilitated by Dr. Michael Gisondi (@MikeGisondi) from Northwestern. In this series, he recruited an amazing panel of program directors from around the country, who have kindly volunteered their time to share their insights and expertise. In these videos, you get a sense of each panelist’s personalities while they outdo each other with behind-the-scenes advice and stories, which would normally be shared only at the institutional level. Our videocasts are a unique must-see for medical students interested in and applying into Emergency Medicine (EM). Keep a look out for more videos in the future!

Case: A 41 year old male with one week of non-pruritic palmar rash that started on his trunk and spread to his hands. He has no history of travel, fever, joint pains, or medication use. What is your diagnosis for this palmar rash? Click on the image for a larger view.