Tactical Medicine News Blog

Asking effective questions is a valuable skill for any teacher. As a junior faculty member working to improve my teaching, I’m often in awe of my more experienced colleagues when I have the chance to watch them teach. At times, it’s quite easy to pick out the skills that they put into action but occasionally, their expertise is much more subtle. Effective questioning falls into this category.

Welcome to new superstar guest blogger, Dr. Robert Cooney! Today's post is his first (of hopefully many). The post New guest blogger: Dr. Robert Cooney appeared first on ALiEM.

The most common cause of stridor in pediatric patients is croup, or laryngotracheobronchitis. The distinct high-pitched, seal-like,"barky" cough can be heard from outside the patient's room often. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lepci-YheI Check out the clip above that I randomly found on YouTube. Go to the 1:15 mark (near the end) to hear the barking cough. Poor but cute [+] The post Paucis Verbis card: Croup appeared first on ALiEM.

I’m in the middle of an intense weeklong course on debriefing for medical simulation here in Cambridge, MA. One of the goals many of the participants share is our desire to improve our skills in the art of debriefing after clinical simulations. Although the course focuses on “Debriefing with Good Judgement” 1 today the faculty also offered a simple tool to structure a brief debrief when time is very limited.

I finally tried the Modified HAT (Hair Apposition Technique) trick for the closure of scalp lacerations. I have used the traditional HAT trick multiple times but not the modified technique. What's the difference? Instead of using your fingers, the modified approach involves the use of two instrument clamps to help twist and pull the hair [+] The post Trick of the Trade: Modified HAT trick revisited appeared first on ALiEM.