It's a celebration of qualitative research to start the new year, with a collection of papers offering new perspectives on emergency department issues. First is a pair of papers centred on the theme of pre-alerts to the emergency department. Setting the scene for a patient's arrival is a vital process, yet it can generate fear of criticism for getting the balance wrong, when it comes to over- and under-alerting. Following on is a paper taking a look at the human experience of working in the emergency department, and the war-like atmosphere that can be found there. This leads to the final paper on well-being interventions in the ED, with interviews having found real limitations to current approaches.

Read the issue highlights: January 2025 Primary Survey

The EMJ podcast is hosted by:

Dr. Richard Body, EMJ Deputy Editor, University of Manchester, UK (@richardbody)

Dr. Sarah Edwards, EMJ Social Media Editor, Leicester Royal Infirmary, UK (@drsarahedwards)

You can subscribe to the EMJ podcast on all podcast platforms to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review or a comment on the EMJ Podcast iTunes (https://apple.co/4bfcMU0) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3ufutSL) page.