Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To examine the influence of emergency medicine (EM) certification of clinical teaching faculty on evaluations provided by residents. ⋯ Significant differences exist among instructors in the EM setting that affect their teaching rating scores. National certification in EM, academic track, rotation year, and site are all correlated with better teaching performance.
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Comparative Study
Customer satisfaction measurement in emergency medical services.
The annual patient volume in emergency medical services (EMS) systems is high worldwide. However, there are no comprehensive studies on customer satisfaction for EMS. The authors report how a customer satisfaction survey on EMS patients was conducted, the results, and the possible causes for dissatisfaction. ⋯ This study shows that customer satisfaction surveys can be successfully conducted for EMS. EMS systems should consider routinely using customer satisfaction surveys as a tool for quality measurement and improvement.
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The operations of an emergency department are increasingly being recognized as vital to the provision of safe, efficient, quality care. The numerous and highly variable processes that characterize our system must be closely examined and investigated to identify those which are effective and those which are not. Original research in this field should be promoted and embraced by our society for both our patients and our profession. Effective operational processes should ultimately be seen as those which preserve and enhance the patient-physician relationship.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Multivariate predictors of failed prehospital endotracheal intubation.
Conventionally trained out-of-hospital rescuers (such as paramedics) often fail to accomplish endotracheal intubation (ETI) in patients requiring invasive airway management. Previous studies have identified univariate variables associated with failed out-of-hospital ETI but have not examined the interaction between the numerous factors impacting ETI success. This study sought to use multivariate logistic regression to identify a set of factors associated with failed adult out-of-hospital ETI. ⋯ The authors used multivariate logistic regression to identify a set of factors associated with failure to accomplish ETI in adult out-of-hospital patients. Findings from this analysis could provide the basis for clinical protocols or decision rules aimed at minimizing the incidence of out-of-hospital ETI failure.
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To determine the effect of simultaneous ambulance diversion at multiple emergency departments (EDs) (gridlock) on transport delays for patients with chest pain. ⋯ Ambulance diversion was associated with delays in out-of-hospital ambulance transport for chest pain patients, but only when it resulted in gridlock. The magnitude of the out-of-hospital delay was the same regardless of the patient's severity of illness.