Nicholas Salerno, MD
LSU's Spirit of Charity Emergency Medicine Residency
What are your 2 key goals as an EMRA board member?
Goal #1: To continue to build on the EMRA’s new app platform, MobilEM, in effort to improve existing apps and digital clinical resources as well as collaborate with our members to create new ones.
Goal #2: By accomplishing goal #1 and through other technology-related initiatives, I want have a role in making EMRA’s apps the “go to” for on-shift emergency medicine clinical resources. By doing this, we have the opportunity to improve care for our patients.
How will you support EMRA members - and how can they support the specialty?
I will support EMRA members by always having an open ear. I intend to facilitate the will of our membership, and make sure that EMRA is the organization best serving their professional interests.
Our members can support our specialty by getting involved, by having a voice, and by advocating for our specialty. Strength in numbers is something that makes our specialty great. It is important to be involved through all stages of your professional career (med student, resident, fellow, and alumni). Our medical student and resident membership groups are very strong. I’d really love to see EMRA grow its alumni membership and increase their involvement so that we can find more ways to address the needs of our independently practicing members.
Why is serving in a leadership role important to you?
Having a role in leadership is important to me because it ensures that I have “skin in the game” and makes me partially responsible for the future of my specialty. If there is something I don’t like or there are unmet needs, I have the ability to step in and make things better.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for the specialty in the next 5 years?
I feel that income security is one of the biggest challenges we face. Whether it be the expansion of non-physician provider workforce in the ED, through decreased reimbursement or threats of non-reimbursement (i.e. for out of network patients), or other mechanisms, our specialty continuously faces forces that threaten emergency physician income.
Reason you chose emergency medicine:
I chose Emergency Medicine because I like it all! EM physicians are the experts of the first fifteen minutes (i.e. the most acute and exciting part) of each specialty. So not only do I get to enjoy the adrenaline rush of resuscitating the acutely ill, but I get to avoid what I consider the mundane process of caring for the admitted stable patient. Our specialty is procedure heavy and we are always busy. In a single shift I get to see dozens of patients presenting with a variety of chief complaints. Not only does this mean I have to keep up to date with the literature, but by the end of my career I will have helped many thousands and thousands of patients… and that’s reason I chose to become a doctor.
Favorite procedure (to date):
When I get to intubate and place a chest tube and central line on same patient. Let’s call it “The Neapolitan.”
Most-used app on your phone:
MobilEM!!!
Beach or mountains?
Beach
Last song stuck in your head:
“Ghostbusters” (My 4-year-old found the Ghostbusters song on YouTube and has become addicted.)
What goes on pizza?
I like most things on pizza. But what I’m most picky about is the meat:veggie ratio, which must be > 2:1!