What is EMPOD?

When it comes to performing procedures your training experience may not give you the right opportunity. Unfortunately, in a residency environment, when the opportunity to perform a procedure arises, someone else may take the procedure you had hoped to do. And when you do finally have the opportunity for a hands-on experience with a particular procedure, the frantic hospital environment or the instability of the patient may not allow the time to go systematically review the steps of a particular skill in a calm, teaching manner. Many practitioners have found that they first learned to do their procedures in such an environment. Whether you are currently a medical student, resident physician, or practitioner, you may find that you have not learned a procedure the correct way. More frequently than not, you may find yourself in a very common situation – in need of readily-available, quick-reference information to review medical procedures.

Now, in days long past, “reviewing” for a procedure consisted of opening our big thick text books of procedures alongside a comprehensive anatomy text to try and mentally prepare for a flawless procedure! But in practice, how often has that approach worked for you?

• How often as a medical student you were told to go to a room and do an LP? Did you memorize the landmarks and steps for that procedure before you showed up at work that morning?
• Were you sick the day they taught how to do arterial lines and blood gases in medical school?
• Consider that you are second year EM resident doing your ICU rotation but you have not had the chance to place a subclavian line yet. It is your first night on call and the patient needs central access. You are the doctor. Will reviewing your textbook prepare you for that procedure?
• You are moonlighting at a remote rural ER when the call comes about a patient in respiratory distress who will need to be intubated before any other treatment: estimated time of arrival – 8 minutes. You have completed your family practice residency and are well-trained, but the last time you intubated a patient was during an ICU rotation 6 years ago. What will you do during that 8 minutes as the ambulance approaches your door?

In all these cases the answer is hidden in what I am offering you in EMPOD. This educational resource is designed to help us not only with direct access to live visual teaching of accurately performing procedures, but also constant updates that will correlate with all the newest technology that is offered in the field. These videos can be easily downloaded on to your computer, iPOD or other compatible handheld device for convenient accessibility wherever you are.

In addition there will be frequent cases and board review material posted on the website that will help you in your medical school education, residency, and preparation for medical licensing. We offer you a ready access source to review, prepare, and update your knowledge and your skills. The hope is that our material will offer an optimal supply of written and visual information for the benefit of all. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the educational value of streaming video?

Pooneh Hendi Glascock, MD