Emergency Medicine

When a senior emergency physician becomes a patient in his own department, familiarity and deference can complicate care. Andy Volans shares his experience and reflects on careful history-taking, consistent assessment and the risks of giving colleagues a different kind of treatment.

Katherine Gridley reports from the 2017 ACEM Winter Symposium in South Australia. The review spans decision-making, research translation, emergency psychiatry, paediatrics and critical care, alongside practical workshops on simulation, exam performance and preparing for major incidents.

Starting ST3 brings new clinical responsibilities as well as portfolio demands. Drawing on a year in paediatric emergency medicine, this post discusses listening to parents and nurses, working with uncertainty, building relationships and making space for life outside the department.

How can a portfolio support learning rather than become a last-minute paperwork exercise? This account of the ST3 year offers tips on supervision, everyday cases, extended supervised learning events and organisation, with assessment requirements described as they stood in 2017.

A visit to Air Zermatt prompts Ashley Liebig to reflect on how teams learn from mistakes. Beyond the mountain rescues, she finds mutual respect, openness about near misses and questions about how healthcare educators can build a similar culture.

What does a major critical-care conference offer a medical student? A student volunteer reflects on dasSMACC 2017 in Berlin, describing international friendships, encouragement from clinicians and how FOAMed opened up learning opportunities beyond the usual placement experience.