Common Sense
Common Sense is a bi-monthly member magazine that reports on all AAEM activities and news from the world of emergency medicine. It is delivered to the AAEM membership* six times a year, which currently stands at over 8,000 emergency physicians, residents, and others with an interest in emergency medicine. * International members receive an online subscription only.
Submit an Article for Common Sense
View article submission guidelines, submit an updated copyright form, submit an article, and view article submission deadlines at the link below
Interested in submitting an article? Learn more.
Current Issue: January/February 2021
President's Message
January/February 2021
An Emergency Physician is NOT a Provider
Author:
I have had a real issue with this word almost since its introduction into medical vernacular. I often plagiarize a physician’s response I read sometime ago on social media, “Sorry, I never went to provider school. I went to medical school.” When I was a child, we used to respond to hurtful comments about our racial and ethnic backgrounds with a pithy jingle, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” How untrue this was then, and still is now.
November/December 2020
Controlling What You Can When Things Feel Out of Control
Author:
Being President of an organization like AAEM has already been a blessing to me in more ways than I can possibly express. One of those ways is the opportunity to form close working relationships with the incredible people who are part of the Academy.
From the Editor's Desk
January/February 2021
A Test, a Shot, and a Prescription
Author:
Each emergency physician needs to develop a strategy to deal with the numerous patient and personality types which we can encounter in the average shift. There are of course the chronic pain patients, the worried mother, the anxious overly concerned son, the histrionic patient, the medically savvy (at least in their mind) patient, and this list goes on and on.
November/December 2020
The Rape of Emergency Medicine
Author:
I would like to propose a challenge to each of you and it is to read a book. Have you ever read Jim Keaney’s “The Rape of Emergency Medicine?” If so, how long ago? Maybe now is the time to read it for the first time or to reread what to many was the call to arms for action when the Academy was founded.
Dollars & Sense
July/August 2020
Disability and Life...Another Option!
Author:
Young doctors are the ripest of "low hanging fruit" for insurance sales agents. You will have, early in your training, friendly, affectionate, insurance sales people tracking you like a pack of slobbering hounds.
May/June 2019
Three Questions
Author:
As I progress in my career, I find myself getting busier and busier. Some of it is my own doing...
Featured Articles
January/February 2021 - Ahead of Print!
Who Will Be Their Advocate? A Commentary on Facing Illness Alone.
Author:
I am a terrible patient. I will refuse medicines prescribed to me...
November/December 2020
Update from the Government and National Affairs Committee
Author:
With fall upon us and the year so far consumed with the stress of the novel coronavirus, many of us would be willing to take a mulligan for 2020. We all hope for a better next year and a vaccine.
Additional Articles
As the editor of AAEM's bi-monthly newsletter Common Sense, Dr. Mayer welcomes your comments and suggestions. You can easily reach Dr. Mayer by submitting letters to the editor using the online form.
The Master of AAEM Series
- Achieving Great Outcomes in Your Discharged ED Patients - Tom Scaletta, MD MAAEM FAAEM
- AAEM: Now More Than Ever! - Larry Weiss, MD JD MAAEM FAAEM
- Welcome to the Tribe: Thoughts on Starting Out in EM - Joe Lex, MD MAAEM FAAEM
- Where Would EM be Without AAEM? - Robert McNamara, MD MAAEM FAAEM
Medical Liability - State by State
- Part 1: Alabama-Florida
- Part 2: Georgia-Maine
- Part 3: Maryland-North Dakota
- Part 4: Ohio-Rhode Island
- Part 5: South Carolina-Wyoming
- The Final Summary
Cracking the Code: Fixing the Crowded Emergency Department
- Part 1: Building the Burning Platform
- Part 2: Creating the Analytic Model
- Part 3: Implementing the Solution