WestJEM

Demographic and Psychosocial Characteristics of Mobile Phone Ownership and Usage among Youth Living in the Slums of Kampala, Uganda

Volume 15, Issue 5, August 2014
Monica H. Swahn, PhD, MPH et al.

The use of mobile phones and other technology for improving health through research and practice is growing quickly, in particular in areas with difficult-to-reach population or where the research infrastructure is less developed. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there appears to be a dramatic increase in mobile phone ownership and new initiatives that capitalize on this technology to support health promotion campaigns to change behavior and to increase health literacy.

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Impact of Gender on Patient Preferences for Technology-Based Behavioral Interventions

Impact of Gender on Patient Preferences for Technology-Based Behavioral Interventions

Volume 15, Issue 5, August 2014
David J. Kim, MD et al.

Technology-based interventions offer an opportunity to address high-risk behaviors in the emergency department (ED). Prior studies suggest behavioral health strategies are more effective when gender differences are considered. However, the role of gender in ED patient preferences for technology-based interventions has not been examined. The objective was to assess whether patient preferences for technology-based interventions varies by gender.

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“The Internet is a Mask”: High School Students’ Suggestions for Preventing Cyberbullying

Volume 15, Issue 5, August 2014
Leandra N. Parris, PhD et al.

Interactions through technology have an important impact on today’s youth. While some of these interactions are positive, there are concerns regarding students engaging in negative interactions like cyberbullying behaviors and the negative impact these behaviors have on others. The purpose of the current study was to explore participant suggestions for both students and adults for preventing cyberbullying incidents.

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Mitigating Concerns and Maximizing Returns: Social Media Strategies for Injury Prevention Non-profits

Volume 15, Issue 5, August 2014
Tressie McMillan-Cottom, BA

Injury prevention programs can use social media to disseminate information and recruit participants. Non-profit organizations have also used social media for fundraising and donor relationship management. Non-profit organizations (NPOs) with injury prevention missions often serve vulnerable populations. Social media platforms have varied levels of access and control of shared content. This variability can present privacy and outreach challenges that are of particular concern for injury prevention NPOs. This case report of social media workshops for injury prevention NPOs presents concerns and strategies for successfully implementing social media campaigns.

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Use of Social Media During Public Emergencies by People with Disabilities

Volume 15, Issue 5, August 2014
John T. Morris, PhD et al.

People with disabilities are generally more vulnerable during disasters and public emergencies than the general population. Physical, sensory and cognitive impairments may result in greater difficulty in receiving and understanding emergency alert information, and greater difficulty in taking appropriate action. The use of social media in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. This has generated increasing interest on the part of national, state and local jurisdictions in leveraging these channels to communicate public health and safety information. How and to what extent people with disabilities use social and other communications media during public emergencies can help public safety organizations understand the communication needs of the citizens in their jurisdictions, and plan their social media and other communications strategies accordingly.

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Social Media, Public Scholarship, and Injury Prevention

Volume 15, Issue 5, August 2014
Debra Houry, MD, MPH et al.

This marks the Emory Center for Injury Control’s fifth special issue on injury prevention and control. Each year we have tried to identify important themes for injury prevention and public health, such as bridging research to practice, multidisciplinary collaborations, and vulnerable populations. This year our focus is on using social media in injury prevention practice and research.

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Discourse in Emergency Medicine and Population Health

Simulation for Professionals Who Care for Bariatric Patients: Some Unanswered Questions

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Kieran Walsh, FRCPI

Gable et al have presented an interesting study into the effectiveness of an educational intervention involving simulation and didactic teaching.(1) Certainly the problems with caring for obese patients are not going to go away quickly – so it is vital that we have adequate numbers of fully-trained staff that can care for them.

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Wordsmithing in Medical Toxicology: A Primer on Portmanteaus

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Timothy J. Meehan, MD, MPH

The history of language is littered with neologisms. When different cultures met, some words were subsumed – “hamburgesa,” the Spanish word for hamburger is an example. Sometimes spelling is changed in order to denote a cultural difference. There are a number of words that end in ‘er’ in American English, but finish with a ‘re’ in the British usage. Finally, some words are simply combined, deriving their meaning from their individual components, but in their artistry and simplicity are able to exceed the sum of their parts. Words such as these, a particular form of neologism called a portmanteau, can denote an entire idea in a single instant and provide the wordsmith with a particular type of joy.

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Epidemiology of Nursemaid’s Elbow
Treatment Protocol Assessment

Epidemiology of Nursemaid’s Elbow

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Sarah Vitello, DO et al.

To provide an epidemiological description of radial head subluxation, also known as nursemaid’s elbow, from a database of emergency department visits.

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Typed Versus Voice Recognition for Data Entry in Electronic Health Records: Emergency Physician Time Use and Interruptions

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Jonathan E. dela Cruz, MD et al.

Use of electronic health record (EHR) systems can place a considerable data entry burden upon the emergency department (ED) physician. Voice recognition data entry has been proposed as one mechanism to mitigate some of this burden; however, no reports are available specifically comparing emergency physician (EP) time use or number of interruptions between typed and voice recognition data entry-based EHRs. We designed this study to compare physician time use and interruptions between an EHR system using typed data entry versus an EHR with voice recognition.

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Novel Ultrasound Guidance System for Real-time Central Venous Cannulation: Safety and Efficacy

Novel Ultrasound Guidance System for Real-time Central Venous Cannulation: Safety and Efficacy

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Robinson M. Ferre, MD et al.

Real-time ultrasound guidance is considered to be the standard of care for central venous access for non-emergent central lines. However, adoption has been slow, in part because of the technical challenges and time required to become proficient. The AxoTrack® system (Soma Access Systems, Greenville, SC) is a novel ultrasound guidance system recently cleared for human use by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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Availability of Insurance Linkage Programs in U.S. Emergency Departments

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Mia Kanak, MPH et al.

As millions of uninsured citizens who use emergency department (ED) services are now eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the ED is ideally situated to facilitate linkage to insurance. Forty percent of U.S. EDs report having an insurance linkage program. This is the first national study to examine the characteristics of EDs that offer or do not offer these programs.

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Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: Aspects of the One-Percenter Culture for Emergency Department Personnel to Consider

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: Aspects of the One-Percenter Culture for Emergency Department Personnel to Consider

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Anand N. Bosmia, BA et al.

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) are an iconic element of the criminal landscape in the United States, the country of their origin. Members of OMGs may present to the emergency department (ED) as a result of motor vehicle accidents or interpersonal violence. When one member of an OMG is injured, other members and associates are likely to arrive in the ED to support the injured member.

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Provider Workforce

Multidimensional Attitudes of Emergency Medicine Residents Toward Older Adults

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Teresita M. Hogan, MD et al.

The demands of our rapidly expanding older population strain many emergency departments (EDs), and older patients experience disproportionately high adverse health outcomes. Trainee attitude is key in improving care for older adults. There is negligible knowledge of baseline emergency medicine (EM) resident attitudes regarding elder patients

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Prehospital Care

Emergency Physician Awareness of Prehospital Procedures and Medications

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Rachel Waldron, MD et al.

Maintaining patient safety during transition from prehospital to emergency department (ED) care depends on effective handoff communication between providers. We sought to determine emergency physicians’ (EP) knowledge of the care provided by paramedics in terms of both procedures and medications, and whether the use of a verbal report improved physician accuracy.

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Expansion of U.S. Emergency Medical Service Routing for Stroke Care: 2000–2010
Prehospital Care

Expansion of U.S. Emergency Medical Service Routing for Stroke Care: 2000–2010

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Natalie Hanks, MS et al.

Organized stroke systems of care include preferential emergency medical services (EMS) routing to deliver suspected stroke patients to designated hospitals. To characterize the growth and implementation of EMS routing of stroke nationwide, we describe the proportion of stroke hospitalizations in the United States (U.S.) occurring within regions having adopted these protocols.

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Practice Variability

Clinical Management of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in the U.S. Emergency Departments

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Rakesh D. Mistry, MD, MS et al.

Community-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has emerged as the most common cause of skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTI) in the United States. A nearly three-fold increase in SSTI visit rates had been documented in the nation’s emergency departments (ED). The objective of this study was to determine characteristics associated with ED performance of incision and drainage (I+D) and use of adjuvant antibiotics in the management of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI).

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Injury Outcomes

Comparison of Three Prehospital Cervical Spine Protocols for Missed Injuries

Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Rick Hong, MD et al.

We wanted to compare 3 existing emergency medical services (EMS) immobilization protocols: the Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS, mechanism-based); the Domeier protocol (parallels the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study [NEXUS] criteria); and the Hankins’ criteria (immobilization for patients <12 or >65 years, those with altered consciousness, focal neurologic deficit, distracting injury, or midline or paraspinal tenderness).To determine the proportion of patients who would require cervical immobilization per protocol and the number of missed cervical spine injuries, had each protocol been followed with 100% compliance.

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