Current Issue: Volume 24 Issue 1

Debriefing Gold: Harnessing the Power of Debriefing Data to Inform Education

Alexander Meshel, MD

Debriefing is a critical element in healthcare, both in the clinical environment and in the simulation lab. Often, what is said at a debriefing is not recorded, leading to loss of critical data that could be used to inform future simulations, education, and systems improvement. In this perspective piece, we explain the powerful role that capturing debriefing data can have for identifying themes to improve learners’ knowledge and skills, as well as inform data-driven systems change and initiatives.

Read More

Exploring Teamwork Challenges Perceived by International Medical Graduates in Emergency Medicine Residency

Danya Khoujah, MBBS, MEHP

Non-US international medical graduates (IMG) represent a gradually increasing portion of emergency medicine (EM) residents in the United States. Yet there are no previous studies that explore the needs of this learner population. We conducted a qualitative study to examine non-US IMGs’ perceptions of challenges they face specifically regarding team dynamics during their first year of an EM residency.

Read More

Simulation-based Mastery Learning Improves Emergency Medicine Residents’ Ability to Perform Temporary Transvenous Cardiac Pacing

Matthew R. Klein, MD, MPH

Temporary transvenous cardiac pacing (TVP) is a critical intervention that emergency physicians perform infrequently in clinical practice. Prior simulation studies revealed that emergency medicine (EM) residents and board-certified emergency physicians perform TVP poorly during checklist-based assessments. Our objective in this report was to describe the design and implementation of a simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) curriculum and evaluate its impact on EM residents’ ability to perform TVP.

Read More

Taking More Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Practice Tests Does Not Lead to Improved National EM-M4 Exam Scores

David J. Story, MD

Emergency medicine (EM) is a required clerkship for third-year medical students, and an elective EM acting internship (AI) is available to fourth-year students at our institution. The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s (SAEM) National Emergency Medicine M4 Examination (EM-M4) is administered to students at the end of the EM AI experience. To prepare for the exam, students gain access to 23 practice tests available from SAEM. In this study we investigate the correlation between the number of practice tests taken and EM-M4 performance.

Read More

A Novel Point-of-care Ultrasound Curriculum for Air Critical Care Personnel

Laurel O’Connor, MD

Point-of care-ultrasound (POCUS) has become ubiquitous in emergency medicine practice for the management of emergent pathophysiology. There is growing interest in its potential as a diagnostic tool in the prehospital setting. Few studies have examined the feasibility or efficacy of curricula targeted at teaching POCUS to prehospital personnel. Our objective in this study was to investigate a curriculum for the extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma (eFAST) exam in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) crews.

Read More

PEARL: Pharmacy Education Applied to Resident Learners

Jacob Lenning, MD

Emergency medicine residents typically train with the support of emergency medicine pharmacists (EMP), but many EM residents will practice in post-graduation settings without EMP assistance. Therefore, a novel pharmacy curriculum for postgraduate year-1 (PGY-1) EMRs was developed, implemented, and assessed.

Read More

An Evaluation of Emergency Medicine Core Content Covered by Podcasts

Jeffrey Riddell, MD

Podcasts are used broadly for learning in emergency medicine (EM); however, there is concern about the potential for knowledge gaps for learners who rely on podcasts for their learning. The extent to which EM podcasts cover the core curriculum of EM is not known; thus, we sought to quantify the extent to which podcasts represent the core content of our specialty.

Read More

Number of Patient Encounters in Emergency Medicine Residency Does Not Correlate with In-Training Exam Domain Scores

Michael W. Kern, MD

Emergency medicine (EM) residents take the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) In-Training Examination (ITE) every year. This examination is based on the ABEM Model of Clinical Practice (Model). The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the number of patient encounters a resident sees within a specific clinical domain and their ITE performance on questions that are related to that domain.

Read More

Universal Precautions Plus: Physician-Directed Strategies for Improving Patient Health Literacy in the Emergency Department

Jamaji C. Nwanaji-Enwerem, MD, PhD, MPP

Working on the frontlines with safety-net populations, emergency physicians are uniquely positioned to take on a greater role in addressing the current health literacy crisis and specific barriers that may exist. Here, we review the concept of universal health literacy precautions and explore the application of these universal precautions in conjunction with other patient-centered strategies. More specifically, to improve patient understanding and outcomes, emergency physicians can pair universal health literacy precautions with strategies including multiple learning techniques, dual-code theory, empowerment counseling, family buy-in, and hands-on practice. We provide two examples of emergency department encounters where this combined approach was used differently yet successfully and efficiently. Ultimately, we aim to highlight the value of emergency physicians being equipped with basic skills in health literacy educational strategies.

Read More

An Evaluation of Emergency Medicine Core Content Covered by Podcasts

Jeffrey Riddell, MD

Podcasts are used broadly for learning in emergency medicine (EM); however, there is concern about the potential for knowledge gaps for learners who rely on podcasts for their learning. The extent to which EM podcasts cover the core curriculum of EM is not known; thus, we sought to quantify the extent to which podcasts represent the core content of our specialty.

Read More

Contact Information

WestJEM/ Department of Emergency Medicine
UC Irvine Health

3800 W Chapman Ave Ste 3200
Orange, CA 92868, USA
Phone: 1-714-456-6389
Email: editor@westjem.org

CC-BY_icon.svg

WestJEM
ISSN: 1936-900X
e-ISSN: 1936-9018

CPC-EM
ISSN: 2474-252X

Our Philosophy

Emergency Medicine is a specialty which closely reflects societal challenges and consequences of public policy decisions. The emergency department specifically deals with social injustice, health and economic disparities, violence, substance abuse, and disaster preparedness and response. This journal focuses on how emergency care affects the health of the community and population, and conversely, how these societal challenges affect the composition of the patient population who seek care in the emergency department. The development of better systems to provide emergency care, including technology solutions, is critical to enhancing population health.