Tactical Medicine News Blog

Journals use the numerical "Impact Factor" as an indirect quantitative measure of a journal's importance in the medical field and scientific literature. Thompson Scientific calculates the impact factor scores annually. This score provides journals with bragging rights, especially when it comes to marketing. Be aware that there are ways to manipulate the numbers a little [+] The post What is a journal "impact factor"? appeared first on ALiEM.

The olfactory nerve of an emergency physician is exposed to a broad range of smells in the Emergency Department. I’ve learned that the stinky-feet problem is a commonality amongst ED’s around the world! I call it the “toxic sock syndrome”. There are two remedies which I’ve been told of: Nebulized oil of wintergreen Placing a open canister of coffee grounds next to the feet (I’ve never understood this. I would imagine it would smell like stinky feet in a cafe. Plus, what a waste of coffee!)

What part of your job do you love the most?In academic emergency medicine, nothing energizes me more than brainstorming with creative, like-minded, and motivated people. From my experience, most of my past major projects have all started in similar informal, small-group settings.For instance, the CDEM organization was built when a small group of undergraduate medical [+] The post TGIF: Collaborating creatively with great people appeared first on ALiEM.

Are you a medical educator and can’t quite illustrate the importance and impact of your work in your CV? I’ve always had this problem when compiling and updating my CV. The traditional CV format caters especially to academic physicians who are active in public service, traditional research, and leadership positions. What about the great procedural course that you ran with stellar evaluations? What about the lecture you gave at a national conference?

On a shift last week, we had a patient present with a spontaneous pneumothorax. Not only that, but it was a tension pneumothorax. Although the patient was hemodynamically stable, he was very uncomfortable and really short of breath. To give us more time to prepare for the chest tube, it was decided to perform a needle thoracostomy.