This is the first edition of a new, recurrent post format. The First10EM monthly wrap up is a place for me to share updates about the website, about my academic life, and also interesting content, such as books, podcasts, and other FOAMed, that I have encountered in the prior month. It is sort of my version of the ubiquitous email newsletter. Obviously the focus is on content I have found, but I hope the community gets engaged in the comments, sharing books, podcasts, FOAMed, or anything else that you think would benefit or delight the broader emergency medicine community.
To start with the website stuff, I want to emphasize that Dr. Sarah Foohey continues to make high quality educational graphics as part of her Foohey’s Figures website. If you haven’t discovered them yet, now is the time.
You will probably have also noticed advertisements on the website. They are an experiment for now. If you didn’t fill out the First10EM audience survey, this is your opportunity to tell me what you think.
I am in the midst of some reorganisation on the website to try to make some content easier to find. There is now a table of contents to the resuscitation plans. You can access this rapidly by typing resus.first10EM.com into your browser bar. Similarly ebm.first10em.com will bring you to a more organised evidence based medicine section, and there is a single page to organize all the deep dive EBM content. Feedback is always welcome.
What I am reading
It wasn’t my aim, but I somehow found myself in the world of baseball themed science fiction this month. Both of these books were good, but in very different ways.
The Resisters by Gish Jen is built around a young girl who is a baseball phenom in a world destroyed by rising sea levels and ruled by an all knowing AI, so that baseball has to be played in an underground league her parents create.
The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel is a very different novel, but a fun page turner based in a future society where baseball is won and lost by the scientific advancements of the team’s performance enhancement division, although cybernics are a taboo, and the lead character is an ex-cybernic league star who is now a baseball scout.
No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind. This book fits very well with my personal feelings about parenting, emphasizing that the ultimate goal of discipline is education and growth. (For some reason, I find it embarrassing to admit I read parenting books. I guess I want to just naturally be a great dad? But this is a hard and important job, and I want to learn everything I can to do it well. If you have books that really changed your approach to parenting – bonus points if they are evidence based – please share them below.)
Interesting media
They have started making video adaptations of Randall Munroe’s book “What If”, which is just wonderful for any humor and science loving nerds.
My favorite all time podcast combined with a Toronto emergency doctor talking about our struggles with end of life care in modern medicine? Death Interrupted on Radiolab was an obvious win for me.
I have loved every novel written by both Hank and John Green. I love the science communication that Hank does across social media. These two are into so many fascinating projects. Their podcast “Dear Hank and John” is really just 2 brothers talking about relatively inane topics and having a good time together, but I love it, and I am very glad to see it back in action after Hank completed treatment for lymphoma earlier this year. (Although I have to say that I wrote this recommendation at the beginning of December before they released an episode entirely dedicated to Taylor Swift.)
Cautionary Tales by Tim Harford is a great podcast with all sort of lessons important to emergency medicine. This episode on the Havana Syndrome and mass psychogenic illness might be a fun introduction if you have never listened before.
Not the best production value, but Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day gave a talk to the American Astronautical Society which was pretty wide ranging, but if you listen closely, I think there are actually a lot of important lessons.
If you prefer something a little less heady and more fun, you can watch an octopus manage a maze made by Mark Rober.
My favourite medical education this month (not always free open access FOAMed anymore)
I have been way behind in my listening, but let me also plug 2 EMCrit episodes:
- The taxonomy of performance errors for emergency intubation breaks down intubation to talk about the discrete errors we make. Knowing these micro skills is so important.
- And check out the Foundstab project, which aims to create a set of foundational guidelines for emergency medicine, which I think is a brilliant way forward, and not just because I am part of the team
Quotes or Thoughts
Don’t compare your inside to someone else’s outside.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” – Epictetus
4 thoughts on “The First10EM monthly wrap-up for December 2023”
One of my favorite parenting books “Yes, Your Teen is Crazy!: Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind”
by Michael J. Bradley. Really helpful for understanding that 1) your child isn’t an aberrancy, and 2) there are ways for parents to cope with teen craziness.”
Not a parenting book, but “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande is a must read for every provider. I have recommended it to patient family members several times to empower them as they face issues of care for aging parents, etc.
Hi Justin. Although I have been a fan of your work for quite some time, this is my first comment ever. What caught my attention was the parenting book as well. I really enjoyed reading ‘No-Drama Discipline’ and just bought ‘ Parenting from the inside out’ from the same authors. But the book I would like to share is Emily Oster’s ‘Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool.’ I believe the title speaks for itself. Emily is an economist with a sound academic background and also a mother of two. She wrote this book from her experience trying to find evidence-based recommendations for common parenting issues. An absolute must-read if you ask me. Greetings from Brasil. P.S.: I noticed your quote on Epictetus. Are you a practicing Stoic as well?
Thanks! I have read all Oster’s books, and agree they provide great insight. (It is unfortunate that she has lost so much credibility with bad takes on COVID).
I don’t know that I apply any label to myself, and try to read as widely as possible, but I think the Stoics have a lot more to offer when trying to practically apply philosophical thought to life than most other schools of philosophy. (The quotes section and reading section will likely be heavy in the Stoics for months to come.)
Thank you so much for contributing. This was exactly what I was hoping for when creating this new update post format.
Thanks for the Hemoptysis reference…it made me go down the rabbit hole and land on their 2013 podcast on ENT emergencies. Perfect for this time of year! Prior ER/Trauma nurse turn school nurse, so had to share with my fellow school nurses.