Thank you to Michelle Lin for choosing the "Web 2.0 Changed my Management," idea.  And congratulations to Jim Campagna for also winning the EM Blog Incubator competition.  I can't wait to start posting! 

Michelle has also been a huge help to Matt Wong and I as we develop our ideas at iClickEM. 

Matt Wong and I would like to invite you to check out our library/review site for EM educational resources called

iClickEM

In short, the site operates like an electronic library for EM educational resources; it also doubles as a review site for EM resources, much like Yelp or Google's review feature.  When you search Google for "pizza in cambridge, mass," [try it for yourself], Google returns a bunch of links to pizza places.  Which pizza place should you choose?  The one that's most highly ranked by users - the one with the most stars.

When you search iClickEM for "ultrasound apps," the site will return a whole bunch of ultrasound apps and ultrasound resources.  Which one should you use in the ED and which one is worth the money to purchase? The one that's most highly ranked by users - the one with the most votes.

Our webiste is almost finished, and we welcome any suggestions you have.  We invite you to sign up for the site and become a member.  Then, you can either post a new resources or write a review on a resource that you love or love to hate.

We're very excited.

- Teach, MD

It's coming . . .

http://iclickem.com/

SOPA and WikEM

The SOPA protest worked.  Without Wikipedia, it turns out, the world isn't as efficient or fun.  You don't know what you have, until you no longer have it.
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Inspired by the protest, I wrote my local congressman (which Google and Wikipedia made extremely easy to do).  Then I joined WikEM. 
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I created content for this page: http://www.wikem.org/wiki/Ultrasound:_Aorta.  As those of you who read my blog know, I recently started compiling a free ultrasound course.  I plan on updating or creating WikEM pages while I continue to create free ultrasound lessons.
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A friend of mine is a banker.  We had drinks the other night and he told me about a co-worker/banker who had some unique ideas on information.  This banker has started to pull his money out of stocks, and started to buy up farm land.  Why?  Because he believes that although information is at a high premium now, it will soon become so ubiquitous and universally accessible, that monetary value will shift toward things that we actually need to survive - like food and water.  This may be an extreme view on the nature of Web 2.0 and the movement for free access to information, but it speaks to the movement's real and powerful presence.
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I don't know what exactly will happen, but I do know that free information is the future.  And if you're not on board, you'll be left behind.  Please join in making information free.

Prezi

The worst lectures are those with PowerPoint slides cluttered with bullet points and words.  Why even get in front of a crowd and speak if everything you are going to say is already on the slides?  Less clutter means more attention to the the speaker.  The best lectures are those that tell a story.

Try Prezi when creating your next presentation.  I played with it last night after a shift, and was able to easily turn earlier blog posts (Venn and 3 Tenets) into a cool presentation.  If I want to teach someone about my ideas, I can easily go on to my Prezi account and use this as my storyboard to explain myself.  

3 Tenets of Medical Education Venn - TeachMD on Prezi

Join Presi and find it here: http://prezi.com/wd5vyzboa360/3-tenets-of-medical-education-venn-teachmd/

Free EM Ultrasound Lessons 1 - 5 Now Posted

The purpose of this free "course" is for it to continually improved.  I have contributed absolutely no content, but simply arranged free resources in a logical manner.  It takes 10 minutes to set up the course for yourself.  And each lesson ranges from 1 to 2 hours.
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Lesson 1 through 4 are cardiac, aorta, ruq, and renal/ureter/bladder.  Lesson 5 is a review of what you've learned.  The next lesson will be FAST, which you will be able to perform well now that you have knowledge of all 4 views.
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I can't possibly know what all the free resources out there are.  So please comment and contribute and help others teach themselves how to be better at ultrasound.  I'm particularly interested in ultrasound videos that clinically correlate so that we can improve our practice and knowledge base of EM, not just ultrasound.
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I look forward to this project evolving and thank you in advance for all of your help.  A special thanks to Tarina Kang, ultrasound director at Beth Israel - Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency for supporting this vision.

Find the course here: http://teachmd.blogspot.com/p/free-ed-ultrasound.html
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Teach, MD