STAT AI: An Emergency Medicine Podcast · Ethan Abbott and DJ Apakama

EP17 Zaid Altawil, MD, and Nicholas Stark, MD, MBA, FACEP Emergency Medicine Innovation Collaborative (EMIC)

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

A JAMA Network Open study used an on-premise AI system to cut ED discharge-note time from 70 seconds to 32.

DJ Abhakama and Ethan Abbott open by treating AI in emergency medicine as a practical question, not a slogan. They talk about the Emergency Medicine Innovation Collaborative and keep coming back to one discipline: define the problem before chasing a solution. That matters because emergency medicine is full of friction, and not every promising idea survives contact with workflow. The conversation emphasizes building things that are institution agnostic and that rely on the physician rather than replacing judgment with process. The tone stays curious and skeptically grounded, especially when implementation barriers come up. The collaborative is presented as a connector. It brings together clinicians with ideas, trainees looking for an entry point, and experienced physicians who can help shape something usable. A lot of the energy is aimed at medical students, residents, and early-stage attendings. The point is to make innovation feel accessible rather than reserved for people already inside the startup world. The hosts respond with clear enthusiasm, describing how inspiring it is to see colleagues build early-stage companies and how that momentum might spread. The episode treats that momentum as something that can be taught and shared, but also as something that needs structure if it is going to last. That makes the collaboration theme more than networking talk. It becomes a practical effort to lower the barrier between an idea and a testable project. The conversation keeps returning to what would actually work in the emergency department, which makes the episode useful for listeners who want optimism with a hard edge.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how emergency medicine ideas move from curiosity to concrete work.

This episode treats emergency medicine innovation as a practical, clinician-led craft rather than a slogan. It keeps the focus on real problems, institution-agnostic tools, and the freedom that comes from physicians steering the work themselves.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A grounded look at how emergency medicine innovation moves from curiosity toward implementation.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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