Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To explore attitudes surrounding exception from informed consent enrollment into research studies. In addition, the authors sought to determine the level of awareness of such an ongoing study among potential subjects, as defined by their presence in an emergency department (ED). ⋯ The overall awareness of an ongoing exception from informed consent trial after community consultation and notification was low. A population with potential for enrollment in such a study did not demonstrate a high degree of acceptance of such practices. There were differences among certain demographic groups in the degree of acceptance. These differences may guide institutional review boards and investigators in community-consultation strategies for future waiver of or exception from informed consent studies.
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The authors review the current state of procedural sedation and analgesia research and clinical practice in adults and children, discuss the limitations in research methodology, and propose future areas of investigation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Embedding medical student computer tutorials into a busy emergency department.
To explore medical students' use of computer tutorials embedded in a busy clinical setting; to demonstrate that such tutorials can increase knowledge gain over and above that attributable to the clinical rotation itself. ⋯ Medical students on rotation in a busy clinical setting can and will use appropriately presented computer tutorials. The tutorials are effective in raising examination scores.
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Admission process delays and other throughput inefficiencies are a leading cause of emergency department (ED) overcrowding, ambulance diversion, and patient elopements. Hospital capacity constraints reduce the number of treatment beds available to provide revenue-generating patient services. The objective of this study was to develop a practical method for quantifying the revenues that are potentially lost as a result of patient elopements and ambulance diversion. ⋯ Significant revenue may be foregone as a result of throughput delays that prevent the ED from utilizing its existing bed capacity for additional patient visits.