Thread by @WesElyMD

@drdangayach 1/ ANSWERS: How to create your best ACADEMIC MEDICAL READING program? @drdangayach

Here’s what I have done >30 years…there are three types of reading: daily reading, journal reading, & book reading…stay tuned

#tipsfornewdocs #medtwitter #medicalstudenttwitter #pulmcc #meded

@drdangayach 2/ Why care to read scientific literature more effectively & thoroughly? Applied knowledge at the bedside is how you “speak” for your patient – maximizing her dignity & respect. Reducing suffering through knowledge is mercy. The eyes are your lamp, use them to read and shine!

@drdangayach 3/ I got depressed as a young MD when I saw docs’ journals piling up in plastic wrappers, unread. I vowed never to let that happen because my patients deserve better. So bought into Osler’s mantra to “set reading habits early & you’ll be set for life.”

@drdangayach 4/ What Osler actually wrote was: “It is astonishing with how little reading a physician can practice medicine, but it is not astonishing how poorly he or she will do it."

@drdangayach 5/ Three types of reading:

DAILY: most important. Read on your active patients’ problems before your head hits pillow, 5 min per problem.

JOURNAL: life-long learning. Discussed below.

BOOK: cover to cover reading a medical text. MUST be done during residency or fellowship.

@drdangayach 6/ Journal Reading – here’s what I've done over 30 years…it's brought much happiness
I started reading 3 journals & it grew from there. I know it’s old fashioned, but I read both hard copy & digital. I call my IPAD & PDF reading a “USA TODAY” approach because it’s more surface.

@drdangayach 7/ Since starting Twitter because of COVID for the first time in April 2020, I realize the power of offering quick short take homes for both me & others. That’s the "USA TODAY" approach. Tweet style. There is real value in that! But it’s wholly inadequate (not enough).

@drdangayach 8/ I crave diving deeper into articles that deserve true dissection. For that I take my ~20 hard copy journals that come in the mail & put them next to my elliptical machine. I read ad nauseum & when tired I get on stationary bike with a music stand in front & keep going.

@drdangayach 9/ Even though I’ve skimmed “Tweet style” some key articles already digitally, I read hard copy much more in-depth, sweating all over it with my brain doing flips having fun learning. It’s never gotten old over 30 years.

@drdangayach 10/ The journals include NEJM, JAMA + JAMA family (IM, Psych, Surg, Neurol, Open), Lancet, Lancet RM, BMJ, Annals IM. & subspecialty journals include: AJRCCM, CCM, ICM, CC, Annals ATS, Anesthes, JAGS, Gerontol, Ann Neurol, and then others on an as needed basis through searches.

@drdangayach 11/ I spend ~1-2 hours a day just on this. That may be unrealistic when on service. Important thing is to keep it going to keep habit quenched. If journal stack gets higher, I exercise more. The rest of my reading in nonmedical – novels, love biographies, and spiritual reading.

@drdangayach 12/ I save all the key articles as electronic PDFs & also enter them into EndNote. This makes writing my peer reviewed papers (pubmed Ely EW) much easier. My EndNote library currently has 21,679 articles in it.

@drdangayach 13/ What are your approaches? Our CIBS (icudelirium.org) research team at Vanderbilt has a host of investigators who share articles with one another & routinely we go over them in our own journal club and in our weekly biostats meetings. It makes it fun & calibrating.

@drdangayach 14/fin - I need a good balance to stay mentally healthy. Sleep, eating well, family time. Never give up those for any extended time. I try to live by Faith, Family, Friends, Medicine. That order. Medicine is NOT number one though it is a true vocation. Done.