Links

A collection of useful educational links from the online medical education community (aka “FOAM,” for Free Open Access Meducation).

Podcasts

  • Critical Care Scenarios: Oral scenarios by Brandon Oto (of this site) and Bryan Boling, critical care NP. Detailed, talked-through discussions (including expert guests) on management and diagnosis of the critically ill.
  • Emcrit: Probably the most followed single source in FOAM. By Scott Weingart, ED intensivist, on EM, critical care, and other topics pertinent to any “resuscitationist.” Emphasis on airway management, ultrasound, and provider socio-psychology. Also hosts Pulmcrit, perhaps the most focused and detailed critical care blog online, written by Josh Farkas.
  • Maryland Critical Care Project: Recordings of the regular lecture series for the critical care fellows at University of Maryland. Excellent, relevant material on a broad range of CCM topics.
  • Ultrasound Podcast: The best podcast on point-of-care ultrasound. Irreverent videocasts from a team of EM physicians focusing on all aspects of bedside ultrasound, from the basics to the highly advanced.
  • The Intensive Care Network: Recordings of critical care lectures given at conferences throughout the world, especially Europe and Australia. The management team overlaps with the SMACC organizers.
  • SMACC: The Social Media and Critical Care conference, hosted yearly at rotating venues. Talks are posted online some time after each conferences. Unfortunately, there is no central repository for the totality of the lectures to date, but SMACC channel can be easily found from any popular podcasting app. [Update: the SMACC conference breathed its last in 2019, and the last meeting is on podcasts under the name “CODA.”]
  • Traumacast: The podcast of EAST (the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma), featuring evidence reviews and practice discussions on controversial topics.
  • ACCRAC: Anesthesia and Critical Care Reviews and Commentary. An educational podcast focused at the resident level, with an emphasis on anesthesia topics. Excellent, thoughtful discussions of key issues from Jed Wolpaw at Hopkins.

Blogs

  • Scancrit: Brief, frequent updates on important studies and other resources from the critical care world
  • The Trauma Professional’s Blog: Trauma commentary and review from Michael McGonigal, Director of Trauma at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
  • The Poison Review: Toxicology news and remarks from Leon Gussow, toxicologist extraordinare.

Ultrasound

  • ICU Sonology: Brief, effective illustrated tutorials on basic bedside ultrasound exams. From the staff of the Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore, India.
  • SonoSpot: A comprehensive blog of EM point-of-care ultrasound, with numerous tutorials, cases, and images.
  • HQMedEd: Video lectures on ultrasound from the Hennepin County ED faculty.
  • SonoGuide.us: An illustrated, comprehensive set of tutorials for bedside ultrasound, primarily from the Johns Hopkins EM faculty.
  • Ultrasoundcases.info: A catalog of ultrasound images including a variety of pathology. Unfortunately, not focused on critical care; emphasizes soft tissue and abdominal conditions.
  • MGH Ultrasound: Video lectures on ultrasound from the Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Echopraxis: Ultrasound cases and tutorials from a team of Australian intensivists.

Miscellaneous

  • The NNT: A compendium of brief, summarized reviews of medical evidence on important questions, all normalized to represent the number-needed-to-treat of the test or therapy.
  • Life in the Fast Lane: The grand old bear of the digital emergency medicine and critical care community, with endless resources, guides, references, and more.
  • UMEM Educational Pearls: A near-daily email list sending out brief pearls from the Department of Emergency Medicine at University of Maryland. Includes critical care issues as well as those from other spheres of EM.
  • Critical Care Reviews: Literature reviews from Rob Mac Sweeney out of Ireland, including a weekly (free) email summarizing all the important critical care articles from the past week. A phenomenal resource for keeping current.
  • Critical Care Northampton: A miscellany of useful resources from Jonny Wilkinson and his Northampton colleagues. A focus on EBM and ultrasound, but a bit of something for everyone.

Discussion groups

  • CCM-L: The Critical Care Medicine list, a decades-old group populated by providers with a wealth of expertise. Managed by David Crippen out of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
  • Trauma-L: The Trauma List, a longstanding trauma group, with an associated website full of useful references. Managed by Karim Brody out of the UK.
  • EMTLife: Probably the busiest EMS forum on the web. Not dedicated to critical care, but a good home for discussing prehospital medicine, which often overlaps substantially.