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The St Emlyn’s team looks back on 2016 through clinical successes, teaching experiences, research milestones and personal moments. These reflections share the people, ideas and learning opportunities that mattered to the contributors, alongside hopes for the year ahead.

Can a rude comment disrupt clinical teamwork? This 2016 appraisal examines a randomised neonatal simulation study in which rudeness impaired performance and information sharing, then considers the limits of transferring those findings to real care and the implications for everyday professional behaviour.

How do our minds steer us towards diagnostic mistakes and unfair judgments? This introduction to cognitive bias uses emergency medicine examples to explore anchoring, availability, oversimplification and assumptions about others, while emphasising that recognising bias in ourselves takes practice.

This 2016 companion to the upper gastrointestinal bleeding podcast covers recognition, resuscitation, transfusion, risk assessment and referral for endoscopy. It also discusses variceal bleeding and rescue measures, reflecting the guidance and unresolved research questions available at the time.

Ashley Voss-Liebig reflects on how research into conference speakers challenged her assumptions about women’s participation in emergency medicine. This 2016 commentary moves beyond speaker numbers to ask how mentoring, visible role models and removing barriers might support women’s careers in the specialty.

Does adding ketamine to propofol make emergency procedural sedation safer? This 2016 appraisal of the POKER trial examines respiratory complications, recovery and patient experience, finding no convincing overall advantage while discussing blinding, event rates and the limits of the evidence.

Could erythropoietin protect the brain after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest? This 2016 appraisal examines a French randomised trial that found no neurological or survival advantage and more adverse events, including thromboembolism, highlighting the gap between biological promise and demonstrated patient benefit.

A participant’s report from the airway masterclass at SMACC Dublin in 2016, covering intubation, surgical airway practice, nasendoscopy and scenario simulation. The account emphasises rehearsal, teamwork and shared understanding alongside the technical skills, with links to further teaching resources.

Rich Carden and Chris Gray reflect on SMACC Dublin in 2016 from a trainee perspective. Their account connects clinical debate and diagnostic reasoning with fear, wellbeing, gender equity and the personal encounters that made the conference a reflective as well as educational experience.

Who shapes the work of an emergency physician beyond the resuscitation room? In the third part of this 2016 series, Simon Carley explores funding, targets, specialist services and workforce pressures, asking how political and organisational choices might change the scope of emergency medicine.