An American Story: Inspiration and Summer Reading

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April 9, 2013 by EmerJencyWEBB

I’m a big fan of asynchronous learning, Web 2.0, and social media in Emergency Medicine.  The modern education of emergency physicians is evolving before our eyes.  I even wrote up a list of my favorites over at imedicalapps recently.

But, it is also important to take a step back and reconnect with the basics, the roots of our specialty, and the intrepid few who changed the world.  This is why I’m excited about the 24/7/365 documentary project from EMRA.  It appears they still need a lot of help to get this thing off the ground, so visit their page today and see how you can contribute.

Take a look at the teaser trailer.

 

Slightly tangential, but an appropriate corollary – my current pleasure reading is “American Story”, a book by Bob Dotson about ordinary people doing amazing things.  There are awe-inspiring stories in this book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes human interest pieces.  But I’d like to share from it, a great quote that fits nicely with the above theme and the wave of change we call FOAM…something we should never forget:

These days, almost anyone anywhere has access to information, but the facts and rumors fly so fast, keeping up is often like trying to read a book whose pages are being flipped by a four-year-old.  We must all start digging for what’s significant and refusing to settle for clichés.  We must learn to identify the people who can offer genuine perspective.  Social media can tell us what is and what ought to be, but those individuals can tell us what was – and that is the key to understanding.

Bob Dotson, American Story