Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To evaluate the hypothesis that computed tomography (CT) angiography often yields a result interpreted as an alternative diagnosis to pulmonary embolism (PE) in emergency department (ED) patients. ⋯ In ED patients with suspected PE, the CT angiogram frequently provides evidence suggesting an important alternative diagnosis to PE. Pulmonary infiltrate suggesting pneumonia was the most common non-PE finding.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Efficacy of an educational Web site for educating physicians about bioterrorism.
To determine whether a Web-based educational intervention improves emergency physicians' knowledge about bioterrorism and to survey physicians' knowledge and sources of information on bioterrorism. ⋯ Providing physicians information on bioterrorism through simulated cases and continuous access to an educational Web site does not increase knowledge of bioterrorism. Physicians are more likely to use media reports for their primary source of information.
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To develop and validate a risk score predicting arrhythmias for patients with syncope remaining unexplained after emergency department (ED) noninvasive evaluation. ⋯ In patients with unexplained syncope, a risk score based on clinical and ECG factors available in the ED identifies patients at risk for arrhythmias.
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Multicenter Study
General competencies are intrinsic to emergency medicine training: a multicenter study.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has promulgated six areas called General Competencies (GCs) that residency programs are required to evaluate. The authors sought to determine if these domains were an intrinsic part of emergency medicine (EM) residency training by using a global assessment evaluation device. ⋯ EM residents from several residency programs showed statistically significant progressive acquisition of the ACGME GCs using a global assessment device. This suggests that the GCs may be an intrinsic component in the training of EM residents.
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Initial studies have shown improved reliability and validity of a new triage tool, the Emergency Severity Index (ESI), over conventional three-level scales at two university medical centers. After pilot implementation and validation, the ESI was revised to include pediatric and updated vital signs criteria. The goal of this study was to assess ESI version (v.) 2 reliability and validity at seven emergency departments (EDs) in three states. ⋯ ESI v. 2 triage produced reliable, valid stratification of patients across seven sites. ESI triage should be evaluated as an ED casemix identification system for uniform data collection in the United States and compared with other major ED triage methods.