Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A Multicomponent Intervention Including Texting to Promote Tobacco Abstinence in Emergency Department Smokers: A Pilot Study.
Emergency department (ED) patients commonly smoke. Current treatment approaches use motivational interviewing, which is effective, but resource-intensive. Mobile health approaches may be more feasible and generalizable. ⋯ A texting program, combined with pharmacotherapy and a quitline referral, is feasible and may promote tobacco abstinence in ED smokers. A larger trial is planned to assess these results.
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The objective was to obtain a commitment to adopt a common set of definitions for emergency department (ED) demographic, clinical process, and performance metrics among the ED Benchmarking Alliance (EDBA), ED Operations Study Group (EDOSG), and Academy of Academic Administrators of Emergency Medicine (AAAEM) by 2017. ⋯ The use of negotiation, social change, and process analysis theories achieved the adoption of universal definitions among the EDBA, EDOSG, and AAAEM. This will impact performance benchmarking for nearly half of US EDs. It initiates a formal commitment to utilize standardized metrics, and it transitions consistency in reporting ED operations metrics from consensus to implementation. This work advances our ability to more accurately characterize variation in ED care delivery models, resource utilization, and performance. In addition, it permits future aggregation of these three data sets, thus facilitating the creation of more robust ED operations research data sets unified by a universal language. Negotiation, social change, and process analysis principles can be used to advance the adoption of additional definitions.
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Exception from informed consent (EFIC) for research in emergency settings requires investigators to notify enrolled subjects, family members, or legally authorized representatives about inclusion in the study. We examined the success rate of a notification strategy including mail services for subjects enrolled in EFIC trials. ⋯ It is possible to successfully notify recipients of enrollment in a study using EFIC over 90% of the time within 35 days, although only 24% of recipients will sign and return a form. Fewer than 1% of subjects withdraw from the study, and fewer than 5% contact investigators, usually for neutral reasons.
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Observational Study
Serum S100B as a surrogate biomarker in the diagnoses of burnout and depression in emergency medicine residents.
Burnout syndrome is recognized as a major global problem among emergency healthcare workers as it causes prevalent fatigue, job separations, and disappointment. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of the glial marker S100B in sera of emergency physicians with burnout syndrome and depression. ⋯ S100B levels correlate with depression scores and emotional exhaustion in burnout syndrome. The findings suggest that S100B can be used as a marker to screen emergency medicine residents and detect individuals with high risk for depression and burnout syndrome.
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This study sought to define expert opinion on the ideal length of training (LoT) for Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited emergency medicine (EM) residency programs. ⋯ PD opinion on ideal LoT averages between 36 and 48 months, but is longer when the sum of desired clinical rotations is considered. While half of the respondents reported direct experience with both PGY 1-3 and PGY 1-4 training programs, opinions on ideal LoT through both methods corresponded strongly with the length of the program the PDs trained in and the format of the program they currently direct. PD opinions may be too biased by their own experiences to provide objective input on the ideal LoT for EM residency programs.