Substance Use, Homelessness, Mental Illness and Medicaid Coverage: A Set-up for High Emergency Department Utilization

Moulin, MD, et al.

The objective of our study was to identify characteristics unique to patients with psychiatric illness who are frequent ED users for mental health care. Understanding unique features of this population could lead to better care and lower healthcare costs.

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Analysis of Patients with Ventricular Assist Devices Presenting to an Urban Emergency Department

McKillip, MD, et al.

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) insertion is an increasingly common intervention for patients with advanced heart failure; however, published literature on the emergency department (ED) presentation of this population is limited. The objective of this study was to characterize ED presentations of patients with LVADs with a focus on device-specific complications to inform provider education and preparation initiatives.

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Predictors of Admission in Adult Unscheduled Return Visits to the Emergency Department

Hayward, MD, et al.

The 72-hour unscheduled return visit (URV) of an emergency department (ED) patient is often used as a key performance indicator in emergency medicine. We sought to determine if URVs with admission to hospital (URVA) represent a distinct subgroup compared to unscheduled return visits with no admission (URVNA).

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Social Disconnection Among Older Adults Receiving Care in the Emergency Department

Kandasamy, MPH, et al.

This study describes the prevalence of social disconnection and patient interest in social resources to address social disconnection among older adults receiving emergency department (ED) care.

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Characterizing Highly Frequent Users of a Large Canadian Urban Emergency Department

Kim, MD, et al.

Highly frequent users (HFU) of the emergency department (ED) are a poorly defined population. This study describes patient and visit characteristics for Canadian ED HFU and patient subgroups with mental illness, substance misuse, or ≥ 30 yearly ED visits.

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Patient Communication

Obtaining History with a Language Barrier in the Emergency Department: Perhaps not a Barrier After All

Litzau, MD, et al.

Our study compared the medical histories obtained by physicians in the emergency department (ED) based on whether the patients primarily spoke English or Spanish.

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Treatment Protocol Assessment

Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction with Treatment of Low-risk Pulmonary Embolism

Simon, BA, et al.

We describe the association between expedited discharge and site of discharge on care satisfaction and quality of life (QOL) among patients with low-risk PE (PE Severity Index [PESI] Classes I–III).

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American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Deletes Sections from 2018 Stroke Guidelines

McCoy, MD, et al.

This article will inform the emergency medicine (EM) healthcare professional of the recent correction of the updated stroke guidelines, identify which sections have been removed (deleted), and will provide a brief summary of the pertinent updates (that have not been deleted) to the 2018 stroke guidelines that have particular relevance to the EM community.

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Low-dose Ketamine Does Not Improve Migraine in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial

Etchison, MD, et al.

This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of low-dose ketamine for treatment of acute migraine in the ED.

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Risk Factors in Pediatric Blunt Cervical Vascular Injury and Significance of Seatbelt Sign

Ugalde, MD, et al.

We set out to better delineate the risk factors associated with blunt cervical vascular injury (BCVI) in children with attention to the predictive value of seatbelt sign of the neck.

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Factors Affecting Family Presence During Fracture Reduction in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Zhang, MD, et al.

The aim of this study was to determine factors related to family members’ choice to be present or absent during fracture reductions in a pediatric emergency department (ED), and their satisfaction with that choice.

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Tranexamic Acid in Civilian Trauma Care in the California Prehospital Antifibrinolytic Therapy Study

Neeki, DO, et al.

The California Prehospital Antifibrinolytic Therapy (Cal-PAT) study seeks to evaluate the safety and efficacy of tranexamic acid (TXA) use in the civilian prehospital setting in cases of traumatic hemorrhagic shock.

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Burnout and Exposure to Critical Incidents in a Cohort of Emergency Medical Services Workers from Minnesota

Boland, MPH, et al.

In this study, a simple measure of career exposure to potentially critical incidents was not associated with burnout; however, individual reactions to incidents are heterogeneous, and assessment tools that more accurately enumerate encounters that result in distress are needed.

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Scholarship in Emergency Medicine: A Primer for Junior Academics Part I: Writing and Publishing

Gottlieb, MD, et al.

In this article, we provide expert consensus recommendations on four key challenges faced by junior faculty: writing the paper; selecting contributors and the importance of authorship order; journal selection and indexing; and responding to critiques.

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Measuring Scholarly Productivity: A Primer for Junior Faculty. Part III: Understanding Publication Metrics

Murphy, MLIS, et al.

This paper provides an understanding of new, alternative metrics that can be used to promote scientific progress in a transparent and timely manner.

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Student Experience with a Quality Improvement Project in the Emergency Department

Burford, MSc, et al.

We believe that students are well positioned to effect change via QI initiatives and offer our experience to support their recommendations, alongside further suggestions to aid implementation and integration of medical student QIPs into clinical practice.

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Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Learners in Emergency Medicine

Meeks, PhD, et al.

In this account, the authors reflect on the successful experiences of a visiting DHoH (deaf and hard of hearing) medical student in an academic EM rotation at a Level I trauma hospital that serves a diverse population, and they identify the potential challenges for DHoH students in an EM setting, offer solutions including reasonable accommodations, and provide commentary on the legal requirements for providing full and equal access for DHoH students.

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Standardized Patients to Assess Resident Interpersonal Communication Skills and Professional Values Milestones

Vora, MD, et al.

It has been a challenge to assess communication and professional values Milestones in emergency medicine (EM) residents using standardized methods, as mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). This paper outlines an innovative method of assessing these Milestones using an established instructional method.

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Gun Violence: A Biopsychosocial Disease

Hargarten, MD, et al.

The medical community must answer recent calls to engage in gun violence prevention, and employing this model of gun violence as a biopsychosocial disease provides a framework for engagement.

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Analgesic Administration for Patients with Renal Colic in the Emergency Department Before and After Implementation of an Opioid Reduction Initiative

Motov, MD, et al.

We aimed to evaluate the patterns of analgesic prescribing for emergency department (ED) patients suffering from pain of renal colic before, during, and after implementation of an opioid reduction initiative.

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The Emergency Department as an Opportunity for Naloxone Distribution

Gunn, MBS, et al.

We conducted a systematic review of all existing literature related to naloxone distribution from the ED. We included only those articles published in peer-reviewed journals that described results relating to naloxone distribution from the ED.

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Use of Fine-scale Geospatial Units and Population Data to Evaluate Access to Emergency Care

Joyce, MPH, et al.

We describe the practical application of geographic information system (GIS) and fine-scale analysis for EM using Ohio ED access as a case study.

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Bundled HIV and Hepatitis C Testing in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Cowan, MD, et al.

Our goal was to measure the impact of bundled HIV and HCV testing vs. HIV testing alone on test acceptance and identification of HCV and HIV.

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Implementation of a Collaborative HIV and Hepatitis C Screening Program in Appalachian Urgent Care Settings

Burrell, DO, et al.

The purpose of this study was to implement routine HIV and HCV screenings in the urgent care setting through the use of an electronic medical record (EMR) to increase a provider’s likelihood of testing eligible patients.

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