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Title: The Ten Commandments in Emergency Medicine-Advice for the Old and the New

Category: Medical Education

Keywords: Interns, Emergency Medicine (PubMed Search)

Posted: 8/1/2011 by Rob Rogers, MD (Updated: 7/21/2026)

In a 1991 article published by Wrenn and Slovis, the ten commandments of emergency medicine are discussed. This is an awesome article and a must read for everyone in EM.

Michelle Lin recently mentioned these on her blog, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine....

The Ten Commandments of Emergency Medicine:

1. Secure the ABC's
2. Consider or give naloxone, glucose, and thiamine
3. Get a pregnancy test
4. Assume the worst
5. Do not send unstable patients to radiology
6. Look for common red flags
7. Trust no one, believe nothing (not even yourself)
8. Learn from your mistakes
9. Do unto others as you would do to your family (and that includes coworkers)
10. When in doubt, always err on the side of the patient

These are great teaching pearls for new interns and for the rest of us as well....

References

Wrenn, Slovis

Michelle Lin's blog, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine


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