CJEM
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There are conflicting recommendations for lay rescuer management of patients who are unresponsive and apneic due to opioid overdose. We evaluated the management of such patients at an urban supervised consumption site. ⋯ At an urban supervised consumption site, all unresponsive, apneic patients with witnessed opioid overdose were successfully resuscitated with oxygen and/or naloxone. No patients required chest compressions.
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Professional culture is a powerful influence in emergency departments, but incompletely understood. Disasters magnify cultural realities, and as such the COVID-19 pandemic offered a unique opportunity to better understand emergency medicine (EM) values, practices, and beliefs. ⋯ COVID-19 has highlighted and compounded existing tensions and threats to the core values of EM, underscoring a critical mismatch between values and practice. Realignment of the realities of ED work with staff values is urgently needed.