Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Multicenter studies are becoming more common, and variability in local institutional review board (IRB) assessments can be problematic. ⋯ There was substantial variation in IRB assessment of a standard protocol in this study. The burden of the application process contributed to some investigators not participating, but the majority of investigators remain enthusiastic about multicenter research. A national IRB may streamline the review process and facilitate multicenter clinical research.
-
Hypothermia of 32 degrees C-34 degrees C induced after resuscitation from cardiac arrest improves neurologic recovery, but the optimal depth of cooling is unknown. Using a rat model, the authors tested the hypothesis that cooling to 35 degrees C between hours 1 and 24 after resuscitation would improve neurologic outcome as much as cooling to 33 degrees C. ⋯ These data illustrate that hypothermia of 35 degrees C or 33 degrees C over the first day of recovery improves neurologic scores and neuronal survival after cardiac arrest in rats. The benefit of induced hypothermia of 35 degrees C appears to be similar to the benefit of 33 degrees C.
-
Community consultation is a required element of research studies that use a waiver of or exception from informed consent. Its intent is to provide an additional patient safeguard in emergency research circumstances when prospective informed consent is not possible. ⋯ This article presents a brief overview of the sparse literature available on the process of community consultation since the inception of the current emergency research regulations. To determine if the process is meeting its goals, more research will be required.