Author Response to: “Randomized Controlled Trial of Simulation vs Standard Training for Teaching Medical Students High-quality Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: The Methodological Issue”

Eric McCoy, MD.

Thank you for your interest in our study entitled “Randomized Controlled Trial of Simulation vs Standard Training for Teaching Medical Students High-quality Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.” Your comments and questions were insightful and appreciated.

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Provider Workforce

Response to: “Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant Postgraduate Training Programs: Program Characteristics and Training Curricula”

Kraus, DO, et al.

We thank Mr. Wu, PA-C, MHS (President, the Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants [SEMPA]) for his insightful letter in response to our paper, “Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant (EMPA) Postgraduate Training Programs: Program Characteristics and Curricula.”

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Provider Workforce

Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant (EMPA) Postgraduate Training Programs: Program Characteristics and Training Curricula

Wu, MHS, PA-C, et al.

We appreciate the authors conducting research describing EMPA postgraduate training program characteristics and agree that more research is needed in this field. As the largest national organization representing EMPAs, we would like to expand on a few points regarding these programs and overall EMPA practice.

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Response to “Creating Consensus: Revisiting the Emergency Medicine Scholarly Activity Requirement”

Pasichow, MD, MPH, et al.

This paper presents the outcomes of efforts by the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine’s Research Directors Interest Group to understand emergency physicians’ attitudes and opinions on resident scholarly activity.

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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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Comment on “A Tactical Medicine After-action Report of the San Bernardino Terrorist Incident”

Stralen, MD, et al.

Supplementary Information

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Proceed with Caution Before Assigning “Red Flags” in Residency Applications

Asher, MD, MS, et al.

We read with interest the paper by Bohrer-Clancy et al.1 regarding variables in applications to emergency medicine residency that correlate with “adverse outcomes” in training programs. We have some concerns regarding the methods of this paper, and therefore the validity and generalizability of its results.

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Closing the Gap Between Entrustment and Resuscitation

Camp-Rogers, MD, MS, et al.

In 2014, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine more specifically defined the skills required of graduating medical students. These skill sets are rooted in the United States’ and Canada’s movement toward a competency-based undergraduate medical education (UME) and are termed the Core “entrustable professional activities” (EPAs)

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Modification of Daly’s Do-it-yourself, Ultrasound-guided Pericardiocentesis Model for Added External Realism

Young, MD, et al.

We were happy to discover the article by Daly and colleagues describing a low-cost, pericardiocentesis training model (Figure 1).

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Comments on “Knowledge Translation of the PERC Rule for Suspected Pulmonary Embolism: A Blueprint for Reducing the Number of CT Pulmonary Angiograms”

Dubin, MD, et al.

We designed a CDS tool using the revised Geneva criteria to first risk stratify patients with suspected PE to low, moderate, or high risk.

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The Time Is Now to Use Clinical Outcomes as Quality Indicators for Effective Leadership in Trauma

Shahab Hajibandeh, MD, et al.

We read with interest the comprehensive review by Ford et al.,1 which was published in August 2016 issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. The authors aimed to review the best available evidence regarding the effect of leadership and teamwork in trauma and resuscitation on patient care and how effective leadership can be measured.

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Comments on “High Altitude Pulmonary Edema in an Experienced Mountaineer. Possible Genetic Predisposition”

Volume 16, Issue , September 2015
Guarav Sikri, MD

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Response to Comments on “High Altitude Pulmonary Edema in an Experienced Mountaineer. Possible Genetic Predisposition”

Volume 16, Issue 5, September 2015
Kenneth S. Whitlow, DO

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Comments on “Sensitivity of Emergency Bedside Ultrasound to Detect Hydronephrosis in Patients with Computed Tomography-proven Stones”

Volume 15, Issue 7, November 2014
Özgür Kızılca, MD et al.

To the Editor:

We read with great interest the article by Riddell et al.(1) and we believe the study addresses a very important clinical question; however; we have some remarks and questions below.

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Reply to Comments Regarding “Sensitivity of Emergency Bedside Ultrasound to Detect Hydronephrosis in Patients with Computed Tomography-proven Stones”

Volume 15, Issue 7, November 2014
Jeff Riddell, MD, et al.

In Reply:

We thank the authors of the letter for their insightful comments.
There were 98 patients with bedside US evidence of hydronephrosis and 11 patients with evidence of a stone. Only one patient with US evidence of stone had no hydronephrosis. The total number of patients with emergency department (ED) bedside US evidence of stone was 99. This correct number is consistent with Table 4.

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Comments on “Deliberate Apprenticeship in the Pediatric Emergency Department Improves Experience for Third-year Students”

Volume 15, Issue 7, November 2014
Kieran Walsh

Iyer et al. have presented an interesting study of the usefulness of a deliberate apprenticeship model in the pediatric emergency department for third year students.(1) The deliberate apprenticeship model appeared from both the quantitative and qualitative results to show benefits of deliberate apprenticeship.

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Reply to Comments Regarding “Deliberate Apprenticeship in the Pediatric Emergency Department Improves Experience for Third-Year Students”

Volume 15, Issue 7, November 2014
Maya S. Iyer, MD

The authors are appreciative of the interest in our study provided by the author(s) of this letter. We found the Deliberate Apprenticeship (DA) model to be useful for third year medical students rotating through our Pediatric Emergency Department in regards to performing more physical exams and also having greater comfort in obtaining histories and creating differential diagnoses.

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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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Discourse in Emergency Medicine and Population Health

Sedation-assisted Orthopedic Reduction in Emergency Medicine: The Safety and Success of a One Physician/One Nurse Model

We applaud Vinson and Hoehn for eloquently demonstrating that the performance of sedation assisted procedures in the emergency department (ED) does not necessarily require a 2 physician team. From a Canadian perspective, where single physician coverage in smaller EDs is common, this has important implications in terms of efficiency of patient care, reduction in the need for patient transfer and decreasing the time to definitive treatment for ED patients.

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The psychopharmacology of agitation: consensus statement of the American association for emergency psychiatry project BETA psychopharmacology workgroup.

We were excited to read the article by Michael Wilson et al1 in the March 2012 issue of theWestern Journal of Emergency Medicine regarding pharmacologic strategies for the management of agitated patients in the emergency setting. This article highlights several important points including the optimal management of stimulant-induced agitation and the feasibility of and reasons for differentiating acute alcohol intoxication from withdrawal, as optimal pharmacologic interventions for each might vary.

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“Challenging the Pathophysiologic Connection between Subdural Hematoma, Retinal Hemorrhage, and Shaken Baby Syndrome”

As an ophthalmologist, I was very interested in the article by Gabaeff and the response by Greeley.1,2 Greeley is familiar with the contributions Vinchon has made in this area, even referencing one of his articles. Since this response was written well after Vinchon’s paper concerning…

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Nonreciprocal and Reciprocal Dating Violence and Injury Occurrence Among Urban Youth

  Author Affiliation Merle E. Hamburger, PhD Center for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, GA Kathleen C. Basile, PhD Center for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, GA To the Editor: Within public health research, “reciprocal” or “mutual” violence is defined as relationship violence perpetrated by both partners in the same relationship.1–2 Michael Johnson3 coined the phrase “common couple […]

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Analysis of Urobilinogen and Urine Bilirubin for Intra-Abdominal Injury in Blunt Trauma Patients

  Author Affiliation Shahram Paydar, MD Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Trauma Research Center, Shiraz, Iran Roohollah Salahi, MD Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Trauma Research Center, Shiraz, Iran Shahram Bolandparvaz, MD Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Trauma Research Center, Shiraz, Iran Hamid Reza Abbasi, MD Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Trauma Research Center, Shiraz, […]

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Interpretation of Traumatic Lumbar Puncture in the Setting of Possible Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Who Can Be Safely Discharged?

  Author Affiliation J. Toscano, MD San Ramon Regional Medical Center, San Ramon, CA To the Editor: When I first saw the title of the study by Julie Gorchynski et al in the February 2007 issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, I thought, “Eureka!” We surely have to reason our way through a great […]

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