Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Traumatic injury remains an unacceptably high contributor to morbidity and mortality rates across the United States. Gender-specific research in trauma and emergency resuscitation has become a rising priority. ⋯ Nominal group technique was used for the consensus-building process and a combination of face-to-face meetings, monthly conference calls, e-mail discussions, and preconference surveys were used to refine the research questions. The resulting research agenda focuses on opportunities to improve patient outcomes by expanding research in sex- and gender-specific emergency care in the field of traumatic injury and resuscitation.
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Early antibiotics reduce mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. Recent work demonstrated that women experience greater delays to antibiotic administration, but it is unknown if this relationship remains after adjusting for factors such as source of infection. ⋯ Women experience longer delays to initial antibiotics among patients with severe sepsis or septic shock, even after adjusting for infectious source. Pneumonia was associated with shorter times to antibiotic administration. Future research is necessary to investigate contributors to delayed antibiotic administration in women.
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Mental illness is a growing, and largely unaddressed, problem for the population and for emergency department (ED) patients in particular. Extensive literature outlines sex and gender differences in mental illness' epidemiology and risk and protective factors. ⋯ Our consensus group used the nominal group technique to outline major gaps in knowledge and research priorities for these areas, including the influence of violence and other risk factors on the course of mental illness for ED patients. Our consensus group urges the pursuit of this research in general and conscious use of a gender lens when conducting, analyzing, and authoring future ED-based investigations of mental illness.
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The relationship between gender, violence, and substance use in the emergency department (ED) is complex. This article examines the role of gender in the intersection of substance use and three types of violence: peer violence, intimate partner violence, and firearm violence. Current approaches to treatment of substance abuse and violence are similar across both genders; however, as patterns of violence and substance abuse differ by gender, interventions may be more effective if they are designed with a specific gender focus.
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The 2014 Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM) consensus conference "Gender-Specific Research in Emergency Medicine: Investigate, Understand, and Translate How Gender Affects Patient Outcomes" convened a diverse group of stakeholders to target gaps in emergency medicine (EM) sex- and gender-specific research and identify research priorities. At the close of the conference, the executive committee sought feedback from group leaders and conference attendees about the next critical steps in EM sex- and gender-specific research, goals for their own future research, and anticipated barriers in pursuing this research. This article summarizes this feedback on the future directions in sex- and gender-specific research in emergency care and strategies to overcome barriers.