HCMC NETWORK FEATURE: Clinicians worldwide use Emergency Department educational website

More than 30,000 viewers in 151 countries have visited hqmeded.com, the HCMC Emergency Department educational website

In 2006, HCMC Emergency Department (ED) faculty physician Rob Reardon and 2005 residency graduate Scott Joing (now ED faculty) wanted an outlet to share educational videos within and beyond HCMC.  So they started the website hqmeded.com.

Dr. Reardon chose the name “hqmeded,” which stands for “high quality medical education.”  The goal was to provide high quality clinical educational materials, free of charge, on Emergency Medicine techniques and topics that HCMC ED physicians have researched, developed, and taught extensively.  From an early focus on ultrasound and airway management videos, the site has expanded to include more than 100 instructional videos and lectures with powerpoint presentations on diverse clinical topics, a link to Dr. Smith’s ECG blog, and online access to the ED’s weekly Critical Care Conference.

On hqmeded.com, viewers can watch videos on cricothyrotomy, airway management techniques, electrocardiography (ECG) interpretation and diverse ultrasound techniques, and access lectures on topics from bioterrorism, bioethics, blast injuries and bodypacking to neonatal resuscitation, toxic gases, and thoracic trauma.  To provide a forum for questions, feedback, and discussion on videos and lectures, Dr. Joing forwards all questions to the presenter for a direct response.  Viewers express great appreciation for the quality of the information, its clinical relevance, and its availability for educational purposes, free of charge.  This is particularly important to viewers in developing countries, where access to clinical education resources may be quite limited.

Since 2006, hqmeded.com has attracted over 30,000 visitors from 6,660 cities in 151 countries, with more than 215,000 pageviews.  Site visits increased markedly in 2010 when Dr. Joing started filming lectures on a wide range of topics.  Dr. Joing has also filmed videos for submission to academic medicine websites and for a CD that will accompany the 3^rd edition of “Ma and Mateer’s Emergency Ultrasound” text, which Dr. Reardon and Dr. Joing co-edited with Dr. Ma and Dr. Mateer.

 See photos below of a video session of Dr. Steve Smith giving a presentation on Left Bundle Branch block for submission to the web site of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, which posts free peer-reviewed lectures.

Filming takes place in a small closet-like room in the ED, with Dr. Smith lecturing and Dr. Joing at the controls (photo 1).

Dr. Smith, dressed in a shirt and tie with scrubs, presents in front of the “green screen” (photo 2) and looks toward his monitor (photo 3).

Dr. Joing adjusts his camera (photo 4), checks his controls (photo 5), adjusts the lights (photo 6), does a final sound check (photo 7), and filming begins.

What’s the next HCMC NETWORK FEATURE? Dr. Smith’s ECG blog.