Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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he objective was to report the results of a survey conducted jointly by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine (AACEM) of faculty salaries, benefits, work hours, and department demographics for institutions sponsoring residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine (RRC-EM). ⋯ The salaries for full-time EM faculty reported in this survey were higher than those found in the AAMC survey for the same time period in the majority of categories for both academic rank and geographic region. On average, female faculty are paid 10% to 13% less than their male counterparts. Full-time EM faculty work an average of 20 to 23 clinical hours and 16 to 19 nonclinical hours per week, which is similar to the work hours reported in previous SAEM surveys.
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This study aimed to investigate whether early epinephrine administration in out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (OHCA) patients was associated with improved outcomes and to address the selection bias inherent in observational studies (more severe cases are more likely to receive epinephrine). ⋯ Early epinephrine administration may be associated with higher rates of intact neurologic survival and any survival in adult bystander-witnessed OHCA patients. This article provides a potential method to address the selection bias inherent in observational studies that examine the effects of drug administration in OHCA patients.
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The authors present a case of a 51-year-old male who arrived to the emergency department (ED) with rash and arthralgias. He was not initially forthcoming about all aspects of his history, but ultimately careful clinical evaluation confirmed by laboratory abnormalities revealed the diagnosis. The patient's clinical presentation is given, a discussion of the differential diagnoses is included, and his clinical course is summarized.
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To evaluate the effect of emergency department (ED) clinical decision units (CDUs) on overall ED patient flow in a pilot project funded in 2008 by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). ⋯ With only 4% of ED patients admitted to CDUs, the potential for efficiency gains in these EDs was limited. Nonetheless, these findings suggest small improvements in the operation of the ED through CDU implementation. Although marginal, the observed effects of CDU operation were in the desired direction of reduced ED LOS, reduced admission rate, and no increase in ED revisit rate.
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Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are the second most common cause of nonfatal injury among U.S. adults age 65 years and older. However, the frequency of emergency department (ED) visits, disposition, pain locations, and pain severity for older adults experiencing MVCs have not previously been described. The authors sought to determine these characteristics using information from two nationally representative data sets. ⋯ In 2008, adults age 65 years or older made more than 200,000 MVC-related ED visits. Approximately 80% of these visits were discharged home from the ED, but the majority of discharged patients reported moderate or severe pain. Further studies of pain and functional outcomes in this population are needed.