CJEM
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Gender inequities are deeply rooted in our society and have significant negative consequences. Female physicians experience numerous gender-related inequities (e.g., microaggressions, harassment, violence). These inequities have far-reaching consequences on health, well-being and career longevity and may result in the devaluing of various strengths that female emergency physicians bring to the table. This, in turn, has an impact on patient healthcare experience and outcomes. During the 2021 Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Academic Symposium, a national collaborative sought to understand gender inequities in emergency medicine in Canada. ⋯ Via the above process, 15 recommendations were developed to address five unique problem areas. There is a dearth of research in this important area and we hope this preliminary work will serve as a starting point to fuel further research. To facilitate these scholarly endeavors, we have appended additional documents identifying other key problems with gender equity in emergency medicine in Canada as well as proposed next steps for future research.
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Racism and colonialism impact health, physician advancement, professional development and medical education in Canada. The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) has committed to addressing inequities in health in their recent statement on racism. The objective of this project was to develop recommendations for addressing racism and colonialism in emergency medicine. ⋯ Emergency physicians are uniquely positioned to promote equity at each encounter with patients, peers and learners. The 16 recommendations presented here are practical steps to countering racism and colonialism everyday in emergency medicine.
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Severely injured patients benefit from early identification and trauma centre treatment. Ontario has provincial prehospital trauma triage guidelines identifying patients who require direct trauma centre transport. Trauma patients not identified as meeting this provincial trauma triage standard are brought to the closest non-trauma hospital and may later be transferred to a trauma centre by a secondary interfacility transfer. Secondary interfacility transfers cause significant delays in receiving definitive care which have been associated with worse outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency that patients who underwent emergent secondary interfacility trauma transfer initially met prehospital trauma triage guidelines, as well as to assess the approximate delay to trauma centre care. ⋯ Patients who meet trauma triage criteria that end up undergoing secondary interfacility transfer experience significant delays. We recommend adding recreational vehicle collisions as a triage criterion. Emergency physicians should work with their local paramedic services to ensure severely injured patients are identified early to expedite transport.