Current Issue: Volume 24 Issue 5

From the Editors – Future Directions to Strengthen the Emergency Department Safety Net

Author Affiliation Rama A. Salhi, MD, MHS, MSc Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts Wendy L. Macias-Konstantopoulos, MD, MPH, MBA Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts Caitlin R. Ryus, MD, MPH Yale School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut   Emergency medicine as a specialty prides […]

Read More

Mixed-methods Evaluation of an Expedited Partner Therapy Take-home Medication Program: Pilot Emergency Department Intervention to Improve Sexual Health Equity

Emily E. Ager, MD, MPH

Treatment for partners of patients diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STI), referred to as expedited partner therapy (EPT), is infrequently used in the emergency department (ED). This was a pilot program to initiate and evaluate EPT through medication-in-hand (“take-home”) kits or paper prescriptions. In this study we aimed to assess the frequency of EPT prescribing, the efficacy of a randomized best practice advisory (BPA) on the uptake, perceptions of emergency clinicians regarding the EPT pilot, and factors associated with EPT prescribing.

Read More

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Lead to Improved Uptake of Services: A Cross-Sectional Study

Meredith Hollender, MPP

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE), who are trained to provide comprehensive and compassionate specialty care to sexual assault survivors, are increasingly used in the emergency department (ED), but there is little published literature to support their benefit. In this study we aimed to compare services offered and received by sexual assault survivors in the ED when care was provided by a SANE vs those with traditional care teams, hypothesizing that SANE utilization will be associated with improved uptake of recommended services.

Read More

Factors Associated with Overutilization of Computed Tomography of the Cervical Spine

Karl T. Chamberlin, MD

Despite the wide availability of clinical decision rules for imaging of the cervical spine after a traumatic injury (eg, NEXUS C-spine rule and Canadian C-spine rule), there is significant overutilization of computed tomography (CT) imaging in patients who are deemed to be at low risk for a clinically significant cervical spine injury by these clinical decision rules. The purpose of this study was to identify the major factors associated with the overuse of CT cervical spine imaging using a logistic regression model.

Read More

Expanding Diabetes Screening to Identify Undiagnosed Cases Among Emergency Department Patients

David C. Lee, MD, MS

Diabetes screening traditionally occurs in primary care settings, but many who are at high risk face barriers to accessing care and therefore delays in diagnosis and treatment. These same high-risk patients do frequently visit emergency departments (ED) and, therefore, might benefit from screening at that time. Our objective in this study was to analyze one year of results from a multisite, ED-based diabetes screening program.

Read More

Comparison of Pediatric Acute Appendicitis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City

Priya Mallikarjuna, MD

Acute appendicitis (AA) is the most common abdominal surgical emergency in children and adolescents. In the year immediately following the declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), there was a precipitous decline in emergency department (ED) visits especially for surgical conditions and infectious diseases. Fear of exposure to severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 infection resulted in delay in presentation and time to surgery, and a shift toward more conservative management.

Read More

Influence of Body Mass Index on the Evaluation and Management of Pediatric Abdominal Pain in the Emergency Department

Carly A. Theiler, MD

Childhood obesity is a serious concern in the United States, with over one third of the pediatric population classified as obese. Abdominal pain is one of the most common chief complaints among pediatric emergency department (ED) visits. We hypothesized that overweight and obese children being evaluated in the ED for abdominal pain would have higher resource utilization than their normal and underweight peers.

Read More

Treatment of Factor-Xa Inhibitor-associated Bleeding with Andexanet Alfa or 4 Factor PCC: A Multicenter Feasibility Retrospective Study

Adam J. Singer, MD

There are no randomized trials comparing andexanet alfa and 4 factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4F-PCC) for the treatment of factor Xa inhibitor (FXa-I)-associated bleeds, and observational studies lack important patient characteristics. We pursued this study to demonstrate the feasibility of acquiring relevant patient characteristics from electronic health records. Secondarily, we explored outcomes in patients with life-threatening FXa-I associated bleeds after adjusting for these variables.

Read More

A Shorter Door-In-Door-Out Time Is Associated with Improved Outcome in Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke

Adam Sigal, MD

Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) significantly improves outcomes in large vessel occlusion stroke (LVOS). When a patient with a LVOS arrives at a hospital that does not perform EVT, emergent transfer to an endovascular stroke center (ESC) is required. Our objective was to determine the association between door-in-door-out time (DIDO) and 90-day outcomes in patients undergoing EVT.

Read More

Charcot Neuroarthropathy of the Foot and Ankle in the Acute Setting: An Illustrative Case Report and Targeted Review

Kian Bagheri, BA

Charcot neuroarthropathy (CN) is a rare but serious sequela of diabetes and other diseases that cause peripheral neuropathy. It is most commonly characterized by degeneration of the foot and/or ankle joints leading to progressive deformity and altered weight-bearing. If left untreated, the deformities of CN lead to ulceration, infection, amputation, and even death. Because of the associated peripheral neuropathy and proprioception deficits that accompany CN, patients typically do not perceive the onset of joint destruction. Moreover, in the hands of the untrained clinician, the initial presentation of CN can easily be mistaken for infection, osteoarthritis, gout, or inflammatory arthropathy. Misdiagnosis can lead to the aforementioned serious sequelae of CN. Thus, an early accurate diagnosis and off-loading of the involved extremity, followed by prompt referral to a specialist trained in the care of CN are crucial to prevent the late-term sequelae of the disease. The purpose of this article was to create an opportunity for enhanced understanding between orthopedic surgeons and emergency physicians, to improve patient care through the optimization of diagnosis and early management of CN in the emergent setting.

Read More

Race, Healthcare, and Health Disparities: A Critical Review and Recommendations for Advancing Health Equity

Wendy L. Macias-Konstantopoulos, MD, MPH, MBA

An overwhelming body of evidence points to an inextricable link between race and health disparities in the United States. Although race is best understood as a social construct, its role in health outcomes has historically been attributed to increasingly debunked theories of underlying biological and genetic differences across races. Recently, growing calls for health equity and social justice have raised awareness of the impact of implicit bias and structural racism on social determinants of health, healthcare quality, and ultimately, health outcomes. This more nuanced recognition of the role of race in health disparities has, in turn, facilitated introspective racial disparities research, root cause analyses, and changes in practice within the medical community. Examining the complex interplay between race, social determinants of health, and health outcomes allows systems of health to create mechanisms for checks and balances that mitigate unfair and avoidable health inequalities.

Read More

Social Determinants of Health in EMS Records: A Mixed-methods Analysis Using Natural Language Processing and Qualitative Content Analysis

Susan J. Burnett, MS, EMT-P

Social determinants of health (SDoH) are known to impact the health and well-being of patients. However, information regarding them is not always collected in healthcare interactions, and healthcare professionals are not always well-trained or equipped to address them. Emergency medical services (EMS) professionals are uniquely positioned to observe and attend to SDoH because of their presence in patients’ environments; however, the transmission of that information may be lost during transitions of care. Documentation of SDoH in EMS records may be helpful in identifying and addressing patients’ insecurities and improving their health outcomes. Our objective in this study was to determine the presence of SDoH information in adult EMS records and understand how such information is referenced, appraised, and linked to other determinants by EMS personnel.

Read More

Prehospital mSOFA Score for Quick Prediction of Life-Saving Interventions and Mortality in Trauma Patients: A Prospective, Multicenter, Ambulance-based, Cohort Study

Francisco Martn-Rodrguez, PhD

Prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) are the main gateway for trauma patients. Recent advances in point-of-care testing and the development of early warning scores have allowed EMS to improve patient classification. We aimed to identify patients presenting with major trauma involving life-saving interventions (LSI) using the modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (mSOFA) score in the prehospital scenario, and to compare these results with those of other trauma scores.

Read More

Improvement in Resident Scholarly Output with Implementation of a Scholarly Activity Guideline and Point System

Lauren Evans, MD

Ensuring high-quality scholarly output by graduate medical trainees can be a challenge. Within many specialties, including emergency medicine (EM), it is unclear what constitutes appropriate resident scholarly activity. We hypothesized that the quantity and quality of scholarly activity would improve with a clearer guideline, including a point system for eligible scholarly activities.

Read More

COVID-lateral Damage: Impact of the Post-COVID-19 Era on Procedural Training in Emergency Medicine Residency

Daniel Frank, MD

Hospitalizations during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic peaked in New York in March–April 2020. In the months following, emergency department (ED) volumes declined. Our objective in this study was to examine the effect of this decline on the procedural experience of emergency medicine (EM) residents compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Read More

Gender and Inconsistent Evaluations: A Mixed-methods Analysis of Feedback for Emergency Medicine Residents

Alexandra Brewer, MA, PhD

Prior research has demonstrated that men and women emergency medicine (EM) residents receive similar numerical evaluations at the beginning of residency, but that women receive significantly lower scores than men in their final year. To better understand the emergence of this gender gap in evaluations we examined discrepancies between numerical scores and the sentiment of attached textual comments.

Read More

Application of a Low-cost, High-fidelity Proximal Phalangeal Dislocation Reduction Model for Clinician Training

Spencer Lord, MD

Patients present to the emergency department (ED) relatively commonly with traumatic closed proximal interphalangeal joint (PIPJ) dislocations, an orthopedic emergency. There is a paucity of teaching models and training simulations for clinicians to learn either the closed dislocated dorsal or volar interphalangeal joint reduction technique. We implemented a teaching model to demonstrate the utility of a novel reduction model designed from three-dimensional (3D) printable components that are easy to connect and do not require further machining or resin models to complete.

Read More

Does Housing Status Matter in Emergency Medical Services Administration of Naloxone? A Prehospital Cross-sectional Study

Tiffany M. Abramson, MD

Persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) use emergency medical services (EMS) at disproportionately high rates relative to housed individuals due to several factors including disparate access to healthcare. Limited access to care is compounded by higher rates of substance use in PEH. Despite growing attention to the opioid epidemic and housing crisis, differences in EMS naloxone administration by housing status has not been systematically examined. Our objective in this study was to describe EMS administration of naloxone by housing status in the City of Los Angeles.

Read More

Optimizing a Drone Network to Respond to Opioid Overdoses

Daniel J. Cox, MD, MEng

Effective out-of-hospital administration of naloxone in opioid overdoses is dependent on timely arrival of naloxone. Delays in emergency medical services (EMS) response time could potentially be overcome with drones to deliver naloxone efficiently to the scene for bystander use. Our objective was to evaluate a mathematical optimization simulation for geographical placement of drone bases in reducing response time to opioid overdose.

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.