Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To describe the loss of paramedic availability to Toronto Emergency Medical Services during a biphasic (SARS-1 and SARS-2) outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). ⋯ Paramedics were among the health care workers who developed SARS. During SARS-2, WQ optimized the number of days on which paramedics were available for duty. Many paramedics developed SARS-like symptoms without being diagnosed as having SARS. A dedicated paramedic surveillance and quarantine program provided a useful means to manage the paramedic resource during the SARS outbreak.
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The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) annual meeting is the primary research conference in emergency medicine. An abstract presented at the 2000 SAEM meeting found a trend of decreasing publication rates of articles based on SAEM abstracts from 47% in 1995 to 33% in 1997. The authors wished to determine whether the publication rates of articles based on SAEM abstracts continued to decline since 1997. ⋯ The publication rate of articles based on SAEM abstracts has held steady at 40% in recent years when the time delay to publication is taken into account.
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To examine the responses of emergency medicine residents (EMRs) to ethical dilemmas in high-fidelity patient simulations as a means of assessing resident professionalism. ⋯ Senior residents had better overall performance than incoming interns, suggesting that professional behaviors are learned through some facet of residency training. Although limited by small sample size, the application of this performance-assessment tool showed the ability to discriminate between experienced and inexperienced EMRs with respect to a variety of aspects of professional competency. These findings suggest a need for improved resident education in areas of professionalism and ethics.
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To determine the association between emergency medicine (EM) program format (postgraduate year [PGY] 1-3, 2-4, or 1-4) and two dependent variables: fellowship training and academic career. ⋯ Four-year formats, especially 1-4, were associated with more common pursuit of fellowships and academics than the 1-3 format. Fellowship pursuit was uncommon (4% to 9% of graduates), whereas 18% to 34% initially chose academics.
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Studies have shown erroneous claims of authorship by medical students applying for residency. Authors have hypothesized that investigation of advanced degrees, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) status, and peer-reviewed publications all show important rates of inaccuracy. ⋯ Applications for EM residency contain frequent inaccuracies in publications listed, AOA status, and advanced degrees. Careful review of applications is necessary to ensure appropriate credit is given for claims of these types.