CJEM
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Are we talking about practice? A randomized study comparing simulation-based deliberate practice and mastery learning to self-guided practice.
Simulation-based technical skills training is now ubiquitous in medicine, particularly for high acuity, low occurrence (HALO) procedures. Mastery learning and deliberate practice (ML + DP) are potentially valuable educational methods, however, they are resource intensive. We sought to compare the effect of deliberate practice and mastery learning versus self-guided practice on skill performance of the rare, life-saving procedure, a bougie-assisted cricothyroidotomy (BAC). ⋯ There was no significant difference in skill performance between groups. Residents who received deliberate practice and mastery learning demonstrated an improvement in skill performance time.
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Multicenter Study
The impact of alternate level of care on access block and operational strategies to reduce emergency wait times: a multi-center simulation study.
Lengthy emergency department (ED) wait times caused by hospital access block is a growing concern for the Canadian health care system. Our objective was to quantify the impact of alternate-level-of-care on hospital access block and evaluate the likely effects of multiple interventions on ED wait times. ⋯ A moderate reduction in alternate-level-of-care hospital days for medical patients could alleviate access block and reduce ED wait times, although the magnitude of reduction varies by site. Increasing ED physician staffing and aligning physician capacity with inflow demand could also decrease wait time. Operational strategies for reducing ED wait times should prioritize resolving output and throughput factors rather than input factors.
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Multicenter Study
Do patient outcomes differ when the trauma team leader is a surgeon or non-surgeon? A multicentre cohort study.
Trauma team leaders (TTLs) have traditionally been general surgeons; however, some trauma centres use a mixed model of care where both surgeons and non-surgeons (primarily emergency physicians) perform this role. The objective of this multicentre study was to provide a well-powered study to determine if TTL specialty is associated with mortality among major trauma patients. ⋯ After risk adjustment, there was no difference in mortality between trauma patients treated by surgeon or non-surgeon TTLs. Our study supports emergency physicians performing the role of TTL at level 1 trauma centres.
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Multicenter Study
Agreement and prognostic accuracy of three ED vulnerability screeners: findings from a prospective multi-site cohort study.
To evaluate the agreement between three emergency department (ED) vulnerability screeners, including the InterRAI ED Screener, ER2, and PRISMA-7. Our secondary objective was to evaluate the discriminative accuracy of screeners in predicting discharge home and extended ED lengths-of-stay (> 24 h). ⋯ ED vulnerability scores from the three instruments had a fair agreement and were associated with important patient outcomes. The interRAI ED Screener best identifies older ED patients at greatest risk, while the PRISMA-7 and ER2 are more sensitive instruments.
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Multicenter Study
The multicenter impacts of an emergency physician lead on departmental flow and provider experiences.
Emergency department (ED) flow impacts patient safety, quality of care and ED provider satisfaction. Throughput interventions have been shown to improve flow, yet few studies have reported the impact of ED physician leadership roles on patient flow and provider experiences. The study objective was to evaluate the impacts of the emergency physician lead role on ED flow metrics and provider experiences. ⋯ In this study, the emergency physician lead impacted ED flow metrics variably at different sites, but important learnings from provider experiences can guide future emergency physician lead implementation.