Frodo’s perilous voyage across middle earth to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom; Harry’s whimsical adventure vanquishing the ultimate evil, Voldemort, in a spell-slinging battle spanning time itself; and your desperate search for an ophthalmologist who will pick up the phone for an emergent consult at 3 AM on a Saturday—three equally mighty and dangerous quests.
MD&D is a podcast where clinical education meets tabletop gaming, designed for clinicians who want to sharpen their decision-making skills in the unpredictable world of emergency medicine.
In each episode, emergency physicians face challenging medical cases, but here’s the twist: the players don't know anything about the case in advance. Just like in the emergency department, they must make split-second decisions without any heads-up, and the outcome? It's in the hands of fate—or rather, the roll of the dice. This is our way of representing the challenges (and victories) that impact patient care in the real world.
Who Are We?
Scott Kobner, the creator and host of MD&D, is an emergency physician at Los Angeles General Medical Center. With a passion for medical education and clinical decision-making, Scott combines his experience with a love for all things nerdy to create a gamified approach to teaching. The podcast features guest physicians from diverse clinical settings—community hospitals, academic centers, and beyond—some of whom might even play a little Dungeons & Dragons themselves.
How Do We Create The Cases?
MD&D cases are rooted in the complexities of real emergency room encounters (with identifying details changed, of course). The stakes are real enough in medicine—no need to add dragons. We focus on moments that test clinical judgment and decision-making, where the choices physicians make can shape the outcome for their patients.
If you have a challenging case you’d like to see us tackle, reach out to us [here].