Free EM clerkship primer for medical students

Emergency Medicine as a specialty approaches patients in a slightly different way from other specialties. We first look to rule-out emergent, life-threatening causes of each patient's presentation. Is the headache a subarachnoid hemorrhage? Is the shortness of breath from a pulmonary embolism? Emergency physicians need to be especially skilled in a broad range of clinical knowledge in addition to multitasking, communicating to patients and consultants concisely, and overall efficiency.

So why hasn't there been a specific reference book addressing the unique aspects of EM for the medical student? It seems a bit unfair to ask the medical student, who is new to the Emergency Department setting, to acclimate to the chaotic environment and not get lost in the shuffle.

Thus about a year ago, the Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine (CDEM) group put together an EM Clerkship Primer to address these very issues. We wrote a reference manual called "Emergency Medicine Clerkship Primer: A Manual for Medical Students", which is available for free. The project editor was Dr. Dave Wald (Temple), and I was fortunate to be one of the Associate Editors. There are lots of notable contributing authors.

The chapters include:

1. Intro to the specialty of EM
2. Intro to the EM clerkship
3. EM clerkship goals and objectives
4. Unique educational aspects of EM
5. Differences between the ED, the office, and the inpatient setting
6. Undifferentiated and differentiated patients
7. Performing a complaint-directed history and physical exam
8. Data gathering skills
9. Developing a case-specific differential diagnosis
10. Diagnostic testing in the ED
11. Developing a plan of action
12. Diagnosis: Is it possible? Is it necessary?
13. Disposition of the ED patient
14. Discharge instructions
15. Documentation
16. Enhancing your oral case presentation skills
17. Interacting with consultants and primary care physicians
18. Patient satisfaction - meeting patients' expectations
19. Providing anticipatory guidance
20. Procedural skills
21. Suggested reading and other educational resources for med students
22. How to get the most out of your EM clerkship
    

If you are a medical student interested in EM or a faculty advisor, you should download and read this FREE resource. Yes, I said it's free. We received a generous donation from the University of Rochester to hire a copy-editor.

Link: http://www.saem.org/saemdnn/Portals/0/NTForums_Attach/ED%20Primer.pdf