EMCrit Brings Upstairs Care Downstairs

When I have new students rotate with me and I introduce them to FOAMED, there is one site I show them first.  EMCrit  is all about emergency medicine and critical care with the goal of bringing upstairs care downstairs.  If you have not heard of this site yet, then you need to stop reading and go there now!

Are you back yet?  Scott Weingart is an emergency department (ED) intensivist.  He teaches maximally aggressive care.  As he likes to point out, this aggressive care is both curative and palliative depending upon the intentions.  He is essentially doing what I want to do and would love to work in that kind of setting.

Keep in mind, Scott Weingart is very progressive and and is at the front lines.  Much of what he talks about is above the skill levels of many providers and/or the facilities we work at across the world.  His site is designed more for the expert level provider with some exceptions.  

There are talks that are great for students or those early in their career.  If you are a student with me, you know the first podcasts you will listen to are Dominating the Vent series.  From there, we discuss a series of other topics such as the intubation checklist.  There are topics I enjoy listening to personally even though the places I work at currently cannot use them such as Resuscitative Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Life Support.

No matter the background, as an emergency medicine provider, everyone should try to listen to some of the EMCrit podcasts.  Even if you cannot use everything in your department, you will learn from one of the best and brightest of our generation and possibly any generation in emergency medicine.