Annals of emergency medicine
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The Pediatric Education Task Force has developed a list of major topics and skills for inclusion in pediatric curricula for EMS providers. Areas of controversy in the management of pediatric patients in the prehospital setting are outlined, and helpful learning tools are identified. [Gausche M, Henderson DB, Brownstein D, Foltin GL, for the Pediatric Education Task Force: Education of out-of-hospital emergency medical personnel in pediatrics: Report of a National Task Force. Ann Emerg Med January 1998;31:58-64.].
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During the last 25 years the German EMS system has developed into a professional organization that covers the whole country with essentially the same standards. Standardized ambulances and rescue helicopters, equipment, dispatch centers, and training requirements characterize the system. The challenge for the future will be the development and implementation of a creative quality management system to improve system performance in spite of pending budget reductions.
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We sought to describe the spectrum of illness and number of patients seen by pediatric residents rotating through a pediatric ED. ⋯ The number and type of patients seen by individual residents in this study showed significant variation. Many illnesses were not seen frequently enough for every resident to develop competence solely on the basis of clinical experience during ED rotations. A computerized, easily accessible ED database can be used to track the experience of individual residents or groups of residents. Such tracking would allow residents and program directors to identify areas that may require alternate educational strategies and would also document the residents' experience for future credentialing.
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Comparative Study
Evidence of methodologic bias in the derivation of the Science Citation Index impact factor.
The "impact factor" published in Science Citation Index (SCI) is widely used in the scientific community to measure the relative importance of a medical journal. In contrast to all other indicators of academic growth in emergency medicine, impact factors for emergency medicine journals have remained low and unchanged since the inception of the specialty. We wished to investigate this incongruity. ⋯ The apparent failure of emergency medicine journals, as measured by the SCI impact factor, to keep pace with other indicators of academic development of the field is at least in part attributable to a methodologic bias inherent in the derivation of this factor.