Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Emergency department (ED)-based naloxone distribution and peer-based behavioral counseling have been shown to be feasible, but little is known about utilization maintenance over time and clinician, patient, and visit level factors influencing implementation. ⋯ ED naloxone distribution, behavioral counseling, and referral to treatment can be successfully integrated into usual emergency care and maintained over time with high reach and adoption. Further work is needed to identify low-cost implementation strategies to improve services use and dissemination across clinical settings.
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Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) appears highly accurate to identify urinary tract infections (UTIs) when obtained via catheterization. Our primary aim was to determine the agreement in uNGAL levels between paired catheter and bag urine specimens. Our secondary aim was to compare the diagnostic test characteristics of quantitative uNGAL, dipstick uNGAL (a potential point-of-care test), and urinalysis (UA). ⋯ uNGAL from bagged and catheterized samples showed insufficient agreement to be used interchangeably. The low specificity of uNGAL from bagged samples suggests that sampling technique affects uNGAL levels.
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Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is a standard procedure for emergency physicians (EPs). Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is known to have great utility in patients who are critically ill or in cardiac arrest and has been used by some EPs with specialized ultrasound (US) training, but it is generally considered outside the reach of the majority of EPs. We surmised that all of our EPs could learn to perform focused TEE (F-TEE), so we trained and credentialed all of the physicians in our group. ⋯ After initiating a mandatory group F-TEE training and credentialing program, we report the largest series to date of EP-performed resuscitative F-TEE. The majority of F-TEE examinations (75%) were performed by EPs without advanced US training beyond residency.
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Patient-centered care is concordant with patient values and preferences. There is a lack of research on patient values and preferences for pulmonary embolism (PE) testing in the emergency department (ED), and a poor physician understanding of patient-specific goals. Our aim was to map patient-specific values, preferences, and expectations regarding PE testing in the ED. ⋯ Addressing each of these four themes by realigning ED processes could provide patient-centered PE testing.
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Social emergency medicine (social EM) examines the intersection of emergency care and the social factors that influence health outcomes. In 2021, the SAEM consensus conference focused on social EM and population health, with the goal of prioritizing research topics, creating collaborations, and advancing the field of social EM. ⋯ Despite ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 SAEM consensus conference brought together hundreds of stakeholders to define research priorities and create collaborations to push the field forward.