Teaching Activities

Some of my most rewarding experiences as a developing educator have been my opportunities to act as a simulation and ultrasound lab instructor at Feinberg School of Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. By working with these trainees in this pseudo-clinical context, I get to witness the "lightbulb moment" when three dimensional anatomy or the interaction of the cardiac and respiratory systems suddenly come into focus for a student holding the ultrasound probe. I've had the chance to help pre-clinical students transition to their clinical years and run simulations with graduating fourth years to prepare them for their first intubations and first nights on-call as newly minted physicians. As I've progressed in fellowship, I've had further opportunities to participate in sim as well as my first opportunities to act as a small group instructor at a national conference. I hope to continue teaching in the simulation environment as faculty with the goal of creating a niche in resuscitation education.

Echocardiography Instructor, Washington Unversity in St. Louis Department of Critical Care Basic Critical Care Ultrasound Course, 2022

Echocardiography Instructor, Rocky Mountain Winter Conference in Emergency Medicine, 2022

Instructor, Washington University School of Medicine MS4 Capstone First Night on Call Simulation, 2022

Instructor, Washington University School of Medicine MS4 Capstone Airway Management Simulation, 2022

Instructor, Washington University Emergency Medicine Residency Procedure Lab 2021

Instructor and Conference Organizer Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University EMS Critical Care Symposium 2021 (Link)

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS2 Synthesis and Application IVC Ultrasound, 2021

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS1 Synthesis and Application Cardiac Ultrasound, 2020

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS4 Emergency Medicine Clerkship Didactics, 2020

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine Synthesis and Application Module IV simulation Cases 2020

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS4 Capstone Simulation Cases 2019

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS1 Synthesis and Application GI and Hepatobiliary Ultrasound 2018 & 2019

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS4 Capstone Airway Management Workshop 2018

Instructor, Feinberg School of Medicine MS2 Intro to Phase II Simulation and Patient Safety 2018

Instructor, Northwestern Feinberg Physician Assistant Program PA 460 Pre-Clinical Year Preparation Course Ultrasound Skills Lab 2017 & 2020

During residency, I also acted as a small group instructor for the Northwestern Emergency Medicine intern core-content conference curriculum. Through oral boards-style cases I had the opportunity to teach clinical reasoning and form close relationships with our brand-new trainees. The need for remote instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic provided another chance for didactic instruction as we adapted Foundation's Emergency Medicine Frameworks to Zoom format. On the national level, I have been able to contribute to Emergency Medicine Foundations as a case editor and case author.

My "a-ha" moment in medical education came in the middle of a nightshift. That night, I supervised a PGY1 and PGY2 during a prolonged hypothermia resuscitation. Both of these young doctors had been previously been my junior residents in the ICU during the first weeks of their training. Watching these residents manage a complicated resuscitation and a half-dozen critical procedures filled me with intense gratitude that I had been able to coach each of them through their early, formative weeks as physicians. The role of the senior resident in the emergency department as a peer mentor is unique in that we often work in one-on-one relationships with junior residents. In order to act simultaneously as peer-coach and clinician, one must balance learner autonomy against the principle priority of patient safety. This extra level of challenge, to embrace failure as a learning opportunity and to create a psychologically welcoming and energizing environment motivates me every shift.

Residency is an extremely challenging time and growth during medical training requires that high-achieving individuals become comfortable with failure and vulnerable regarding their weaknesses. The best coaches foster this vulnerability and promote self-reflection . This means actively soliciting the learner's goals and perspectives, something we often fail to do in medical education based on benchmarks. By aligning ourselves with the personal goals of our learners we work together to push their professional development forward. (PMID 30675736).

Mentorship is vital to the growth and development of residents. I was lucky to have outstanding mentors during my time at NUEM that served as wonderful role models in quality improvement, ultrasound education, and simulation. Despite this, however, I did not have direct mentorship in the field of emergency medicine and critical care. As EM trained intensivists become more and more recognized, I believe it will be vital for EM residency programs to provide mentors from this field of practice. I would be thrilled to fill that role for any hopeful EM-Intensivist during their training.

Feinberg School of Medicine Teaching Selective

Through this program, I worked closely with senior medical students as they took their first steps to becoming medical educators. In the Teaching Selective, interested students volunteer to lead physical exam and focused interview workshops for first year students and then provide structured feedback as to how the students can improve their performance in their core skills as physicians in training. My role in this program was to directly observe the instructional and feedback skills of the senior medical students and provide direct instruction in the art of giving feedback.

Bailitz J, O’Brien J, McCauley M, Murray D, Jung C, Peska G, Gottlieb M. Development of an expert consensus checklist for emergency ultrasound. AEM Education and Training. 2022;6(4):e10783. doi:10.1002/aet2.10783

King, P. Akehtuamhen, A. (2022, Feb 28). Crashing Ventilator Patient. [NUEM Blog. Expert Commentary by McCauley, M]. (Review Here )

Kaskar, S. Randolph, A. (2022, Feb 14). Review of ATHOS 3 trial. [NUEM Blog. Expert Commentary by McCauley, M]. (Review Here)

Leibowitz, M. McCauley M. (2021, March 29) "Ketamine Pain Control." [NUEM Blog. Expert Commentary by Trueger, S] (Review Here)

Wibberly, A. McCauley M. (2020, Sep 28) “Vaporizing Lung Injury.” [NUEM Blog. Expert Commentary by Gussow, L].(Review Here)

McCauley, M. Stelter, J. (2020, Feb 3). “Initiating Emergency Department Mechanical Ventilation in the Pediatric Patient.” [NUEM Blog. Expert Commentary by Wolfe, K]. (Review Here)

• Top 3 NUEM Blog of 2020 with 2573 unique page-views

McCauley M, Sanders S (2018, July 16 ). Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation in the emergency department.” [NUEM Blog. Expert Commentary by Walter J]. (Review Here)