Current Issue: Volume 26 Issue 1

Characteristics and Outcomes of Implementing Emergency Department-based Intensive Care Units: A Scoping Review

Jutamas Saoraya, MD, PhD

The prolonged stay of critically ill patients in the emergency department (ED) may lead to worse clinical outcomes. An emergency department (ED)-based intensive care unit (ICU) is one of the proposed solutions to deliver critical care in the ED. We thus aimed to characterize existent ED-ICU models and their reported association with clinical outcomes in critically ill adult patients.

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Leadership Perceptions, Educational Struggles and Barriers, and Effective Modalities for Teaching Vertigo and the HINTS Exam: A National Survey of Emergency Medicine Residency Program Directors

Mary McLean, MD

The utility of the three-part bedside oculomotor exam HINTS (head impulse test, nystagmus, test of skew) in the hands of emergency physicians remains under debate despite being supported by the most recent literature. Educators historically lack consensus on how specifically to teach this skill to emergency medicine (EM) residents, and it is unknown whether and how EM residency programs have begun to implement HINTS training into their curricula. We aimed to characterize the state of HINTS education in EM residency and develop a needs assessment.

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The Effect of Hospital Boarding on Emergency Medicine Residency Productivity

Peter Moffett, MD

Emergency department boarding has escalated to a crisis, impacting patient care, hospital finances, and physician burnout, and contributing to error. No prior studies have examined the effects of boarding hours on resident productivity. If boarding reduces productivity, it may have negative educational impacts. We investigated the effect of boarding on resident productivity as measured by patients per hour and hypothesized that increased boarding leads to decreased productivity.

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Substantial Variation Exists in Clinical Exposure to Chief Complaints Among Residents Within an Emergency Medicine Training Program

Corlin M. Jewell, MD

While many aspects of emergency medicine (EM) residency training are standardized among residents within a single residency program, there is no standard for the distribution of chief complaints (CC) that residents should see over the course of residency. This could result in substantial variability in each resident’s clinical exposure. Our objective in this study was to explore EM residents’ clinical exposure to CCs to determine whether substantial variation exists. If such variation exists, this could suggest the need for curricular reform to address gaps in resident clinical exposure during training.

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Practice Patterns of Graduates of a Rural Emergency Medicine Training Program

Dylan S. Kellogg, MD, MSMEd

Rural communities continue to face a shortage of emergency physicians despite the growing number of emergency medicine (EM) residencies. In rural areas, emergency physicians tend to be older, male, and White, and are less likely to have completed EM residency training or have board certification. There is also currently a higher rate of rural physicians leaving clinical practice than in urban emergency departments (ED). In this cross-sectional study we sought to identify the work environments of graduates of a rural EM residency program, and the strengths and weaknesses of such a program.

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Integrating Disaster Response Tools for Clinical Leadership

Kenneth V. Iserson, MD, MBA

Disastrous situations in the emergency department (ED) or community can overwhelm even the best-prepared teams due to their complexity and dynamic nature. In this paper we propose an integrated approach to disaster management, combining six theoretical and practical frameworks to enhance decision-making and operational effectiveness.

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Hyperkalemia or Not? A Diagnostic Pitfall in the Emergency Department

Frank-Peter Stephan, MD

Hyperkalemia, a potentially life-threatening electrolyte disturbance, is commonly encountered in the Emergency Department (ED). However, the frequency of factitious hyperkalemia, an artificially elevated potassium level in hyperkalemic ED patients, is unknown. This study aims to detect the rate of factitious hyperkalemia among patients with a potassium concentration of ≥5.0 mmol/l in an all-comer ED population.

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A Machine Learning Algorithm to Predict Medical Device Recall by the Food and Drug Administration

Victor Barbosa Slivinskis,

Medical device recalls are important to the practice of emergency medicine, as unsafe devices include many ubiquitous items in emergency care, such as vascular access devices, ventilators, infusion pumps, video laryngoscopes, pulse oximetry sensors, and implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Identification of dangerous medical devices as early as possible is necessary to minimize patient harms while avoiding false positives to prevent removal of safe devices from use. While the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employs an adverse event reporting program (MedWatch) and database (MAUDE), other data sources and methods might have utility to identify potentially dangerous medical devices. Our objective was to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of a machine learning (ML) algorithm using publicly available data to predict medical device recalls by the FDA.

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Survey of Firearm Storage Practices and Preferences Among Parents and Caregivers of Children

Meredith B. Haag, MD, MPH

The American College of Emergency Physicians supports community- and hospital-based programs that intervene to prevent firearm-related injury. To this end, the distribution of firearm locks or storage devices in the emergency department (ED) may help achieve this target. To inform secure firearm storage programs for households with children and firearms, we examined firearm storage practices, device preferences, and cost tolerance among parents/caregivers of children.

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Associations of the Need for Surgery in Emergency Department Patients with Small Bowel Obstructions

Daniel J. Berman, MD

Management strategies for small bowel obstruction (SBO) vary from conservative approaches to surgical intervention. A known complication of surgery is the subsequent adhesions that can cause recurrent SBOs, longer hospital stays, and higher treatment costs. Our primary outcome was to identify independent risk factors that are associated with the decision for surgical intervention, and our secondary outcome was to describe characteristics of visits associated with complications.

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Effectiveness of a Collaborative, Virtual Outreach Curriculum for 4th-Year EM-bound Students at a Medical School Affiliated with a Historically Black College and University

Cortlyn Brown, MD, MCSO

Diversity within the physician workforce is associated with improved clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Despite this, the US physician workforce, particularly in emergency medicine (EM), remains relatively homogeneous. Of all Black medical school students in the US, 14% attend the four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) that have a medical school. Unfortunately, none of these schools are affiliated with an academic EM program. Because of this, there is less professional mentorship focused on obtaining a career in EM and potentially less formal curricula for senior medical students doing their home sub-internship in EM.

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Pediatric Emergency Department-based Food Insecurity Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stephanie Ruest, MD, MPH

The emergency department (ED) is a safety net, caring for families who lack adequate access to food and other basic needs. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic rise in food insecurity (FI) nationally; however, little is known about the prevalence of FI among families seen in pediatric EDs (PED). In this study we aimed to determine the prevalence of FI, as well as awareness and utilization of supplemental food services, among families seen in an urban PED during the COVID-19 pandemic using an electronic screening survey.

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Emergency Physicians’ and Nurses’ Perspectives on Transgender, Intersexual, and Non-Binary Patients in Germany

Torben Brod, MD

Providing appropriate healthcare for transgender, intersexual and non-binary (TIN) individuals remains a significant challenge, as this group experiences higher rates of health inequalities, discrimination, and barriers to accessing care. Emergency physicians (EP) often lack formal training and knowledge about caring for TIN patients, while comparatively less evidence is available for other healthcare professionals, including emergency nurses (EN). Therefore, our goal in this study was to explore the experiences, knowledge, and attitudes as well as education/training needs of both ENs and EPs in Germany regarding the care of TIN patients.

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Needs Assessment and Tailored Training Pilot for Emergency Care Clinicians in the Prehospital Setting in Rwanda

Naz Karim, MD, MHA, MPH

In low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), 45% of deaths could be addressed by implementation of an emergency medical services (EMS) system. Prehospital care is a critical component of EMS worldwide, and basic, affordable training has been shown to improve EMS systems. However, patient outcome impact is unclear. In this study we aimed to assess the current state of prehospital care in Kigali, Rwanda, through a needs assessment, focused training intervention, and analysis of current practices and patient outcomes.

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Needs Assessment and Tailored Training Pilot for Emergency Care Clinicians in the Prehospital Setting in Rwanda

Naz Karim, MD, MHA, MPH

In low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), 45% of deaths could be addressed by implementation of an emergency medical services (EMS) system. Prehospital care is a critical component of EMS worldwide, and basic, affordable training has been shown to improve EMS systems. However, patient outcome impact is unclear. In this study we aimed to assess the current state of prehospital care in Kigali, Rwanda, through a needs assessment, focused training intervention, and analysis of current practices and patient outcomes.

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Hyperkalemia or Not? A Diagnostic Pitfall in the Emergency Department

Frank-Peter Stephan, MD

Hyperkalemia, a potentially life-threatening electrolyte disturbance, is commonly encountered in the Emergency Department (ED). However, the frequency of factitious hyperkalemia, an artificially elevated potassium level in hyperkalemic ED patients, is unknown. This study aims to detect the rate of factitious hyperkalemia among patients with a potassium concentration of ≥5.0 mmol/l in an all-comer ED population.

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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

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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.