Student Feature: Shaheen Emami

Student Feature

What was your role in DOCS this past year? Why did you choose to apply to this specific position?

This past year, I was the Emergency Preparedness (EP) Station Manager for DOCS community health fairs throughout Miami and South Florida. Our station is unique in that it is not a typical station that performs health screenings. Instead, our role is predominantly education. Through physical instruction and paper resources, we strive to prepare patients for unexpected emergencies that they may experience one day. We discuss gun safety and provide gun locks supplied by our local Veterans Affairs hospital, as well as education on hurricanes, fire safety, household toxicology, animal safety, COVID-19, and many more topics.

I chose to apply for this position because of my prior experiences and deep passion for emergency medicine! Before and even during medical school, I worked as an Emergency Department Technician for a total of about 3 years. I also worked as a Burn Technician in the Burn ICU and as a CPR Instructor for about 6 months. The love I found for emergency medicine is what inspired my journey to become a physician, and the EP station provided exactly what I wanted: education and emergencies!

What goals did you have for your position this year?

This year, I really wanted to expand our hands-on training, as COVID protocols were rightfully a significant obstacle to that in the previous year. I added a training Epi-pen, malleable splints, ACE wraps, and even a Choking Trainer to expand our first aid education. In addition, we had an Emergency Medicine resident come to one of our fairs to provide Stop the Bleed training. With the help of our medical student and graduate student volunteers, I believe our CPR education with adult and infant mannequins were the biggest attraction. Many patients wanted to learn CPR and about AEDs, and we were happy to teach these potentially lifesaving skills. In the upcoming year, we are hoping to add an emphasis on opioid overdose management. The recent work by emergency medicine resident, Dr. Joshua Goldstein, and medical student, Kelley Benck, at the HIV/HCV station to distribute Narcan to patients has stirred the potential for us to provide hands-on training of opioid overdose recognition and Narcan administration on our CPR mannequins. I’m looking forward to what we add to the station this upcoming year.

Shaheen Emami

How has your involvement with DOCS impacted your medical school career?

My involvement with DOCS has opened many doors for me in medical school. This upcoming year, I will continue my involvement with DOCS Emergency preparedness as a Senior Advisor, and I am excited to work with the new station manager, as well as becoming more involved with the other projects that our incredible team has to offer. With the help of Tara Tardino and our resources at the Gordon Center, this year we have also expanded CPR training to our RMC sites, such as the Guatemalan-Maya Center and Lake Worth High School. I hope those connections and educational opportunities continue to expand at our RMC locations in Broward and Palm Beach County. I am returning to Miami at the end of this year, and I am hopeful that our Emergency Preparedness team can continue working to create educational opportunities for our communities in the Miami-Dade area as well. In addition, it would be great if we can continue to work with our Emergency Medicine residents involved in Stop the Bleed training events. We have so many resources here at UM, and I am hopeful that our team will utilize these resources to provide education opportunities to our students and communities.

What skills have you learned from your experiences with DOCS that you hope to carry into your career?

Being the Station Manager for the DOCS Emergency Preparedness station confirmed for me that community outreach and patient education will be an important aspect of my future career in medicine. I believe that it has supplemented my own experience as an MD/MPH student, and given me ideas on how I would like to involve public health and education into my career as a physician. Whether it be holding educational classes or teaching my individual patients when the opportunity arises, or getting involved with outreach groups to provide community health services, DOCS has no doubt helped me frame my view of my future career. Additionally, these experiences have reinforced in me my career interest of Emergency Medicine. I have worked with and met so many emergency medicine physicians who are passionate about both community outreach and education. It truly feels like I found my fit, and I am grateful for my experiences with DOCS that I have had thus far.