EM Basic Intro

This is Steve Carroll, and you're listening to the first ever EM Basic Podcast. Thanks very much for listening. This first podcast will just be a short introduction of who I am, what I'm trying to accomplish with this podcast, how to best use it, and some other resources that you may need. find useful.

First off, my name is Steve Carroll, and I'm a third-year EM resident with the Army at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. I grew up in downtown Pennsylvania, which is a suburb just outside of Philadelphia, and I was an EMTB there for about 10 years before I started residency.

I went to Notre Dame, go Irish, followed by medical school at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. In my free time, I enjoyed CrossFit, skydiving, and playing with Nellie, a Rottweiler mix whom my wife and I adopted recently from an animal shelter. First off, a disclaimer. I'm obligated to mention that this podcast does not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, or my residency program.

Now let's talk about what I hope to accomplish with this podcast. The mission of this is to talk about the very basics of emergency medicine. My target is medical students rotating the ED and emergency medicine interns. What I will do in each podcast is to start exactly how we start in the ED, with a chief complaint.

From there, I will talk about the important parts of the history and physical, the workup, and some of the management and disposition issues that you will encounter. Throughout the podcast, I'll sprinkle in some clinical pearls and other random tidbits that will hopefully be helpful in your workups.

I created this podcast because I found that podcasts and audio lectures are the way which I learn most effectively. It's very difficult for me to sit down and read an emergency medicine textbook like Rosen's Intentanalities for any length of time and get much out of it. It's really not how I learn effectively.

Now, I will use these textbooks to read up on an interesting case or when I have a question, but as far as sitting down and reading on a certain topic for an hour, yeah, I really can't do that myself. Early in my intern year, I was introduced to EMRAP, which is an audio lecture series produced by Dr. Mel Herbert and company. Each month, they publish an incredible three-hour audio lecture series that includes a wide variety of emergency medicine topics.

I found that if I burned them onto CDs and listened to them in my car when I was driving around, that I could retain a ton of useful clinical information. I then branched out to find other podcasts and websites that had an enormous amount of great educational material that was much more acceptable than sitting down with a textbook in reading. I supplement podcasts in these websites with reading of journals to keep up to date on the latest literature.

this is how i approach my emergency medicine learning the key is to find whatever works for you put in the time and do it if you love reading rosins and it works for you then do it if you like a different approach then as long as you commit enough time to it you should be successful

Now, if you listen to these podcasts, you won't retain 100% of what you hear. I guarantee it. What will happen is this almost kind of subconscious learning. You'll be on shift and have a patient, and suddenly you'll remember some little pearl from podcasts, and we'll help you treat that patient.

The first time it happens, it's pretty cool, and the more you listen and learn, the more you will find that it happens. That is how these podcasts will hopefully help you learn. Now another short disclaimer. I'm a third-year EM resident with much, much more learning to do. I will do my best. best to present accurate and up-to-date information as I can. I will double and triple check all my podcasts for errors, but I can't guarantee 100% accuracy. Also, if you're a medical student or intern,

Please realize that the way I present things is in a very basic format and it represents the way that I approach things. Your attendings will have different ways of approaching their workups and you should listen to why they approach things a certain way. Medicine is equal parts art and science. science and we don't know all the answers. Also, I can't cover everything you need to know in 30 minutes or less. For example, no one can cover the entire knowledge based on chest pain in 30 minutes.

However, in my first podcast, I will discuss the basic workup and management of all the life-threatening causes of chest pain in about 30 minutes. This will serve as a stepping stone to your further education on subtleties of chest pain diagnosis and management.

My theory is that you have to start somewhere. That first stepping stone is what I hope to provide. And last but not least, a dedication. This podcast is dedicated to all my mentors and teachers throughout the years, especially when I first started. I had some amazing mentors and teachers when I first started out as a Greenhorn EMT, and they are the reason that I am here today.

When I was just starting out, I swore to myself that when I got into a position to teach and mentor others that I would do it to the best of my ability. So to those teachers and mentors who I've had throughout the years, thank you and I hope that this podcast can be my way to pay it forward. Okay, let's get started. Please download the first podcast on chest pain, take a listen, and please email me with your comments and suggestions. This is Steve Carroll for the EM Basic Podcast, signing off.