Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The authors hypothesized that a new strategy, termed the independent-capacity protocol (ICP), which was defined as primary stabilization at the emergency department (ED) and utilization of community resources via transfer to local hospitals, would reduce ED overcrowding without requiring additional hospital resources. ⋯ After introduction of the ICP, ED LOS decreased without an increase in hospital capacity.
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To assess the ability of a screen-based simulation-training program to improve emergency medicine and pediatric resident performance in critical pediatric resuscitation knowledge, confidence, and skills. ⋯ In this study, improvements in resident knowledge, confidence, and performance of certain skills in simulated pediatric cardiac arrest scenarios suggest that screen-based simulations may be an effective way to enhance resuscitation skills of pediatric providers. These results should be confirmed using a randomized design with an appropriate control group.
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Although many residency programs mandate at least one rotation in emergency medicine (EM), to the best of our knowledge, a standardized curriculum for emergency department (ED) rotations for "off-service" residents has not been developed. As a result, the experiences of these residents in the ED tend to vary during their rotations. ⋯ This knowledge will be applicable in the clinical settings in which residents will continue to train and ultimately practice their specialty. It is flexible enough to be applicable and implementable without being limited by resource availability or faculty strengths.
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For more than a decade, emergency medicine (EM) organizations have produced guidelines, training, and leadership for disaster management. However, to date there have been limited guidelines for emergency physicians (EPs) needing to provide a rapid response to a surge in demand. The aim of this project was to identify strategies that may guide surge management in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ The group then characterized surge strategies from their corpus of experience; examined them through available relevant published literature; and collated these within domains of space, staff, supplies, and system operations. These recommendations detail 22 potential actions available to an EP working in the context of surge, along with detailed guidance on surge recognition, triage, patient flow through the ED, and clinical goals and practices. The article also identifies areas that merit future research, including the measurement of surge capacity, constraints to strategy implementation, validation of surge strategies, and measurement of strategy impacts on throughput, cost, and quality of care.
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Emergency medicine (EM) residency programs spend significant time and money offering an interview day experience for their applicants. The day may include a range of activities, although which are most important from the applicants' point of view are not known. ⋯ Residency programs have the opportunity to control two of the three most important ways in which applicants use the interview day to assess programs by offering off-campus gatherings with residents and ensuring that every candidate interviews with the program director. Residency programs may use this knowledge to optimize interview day resources.