Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Pain is the most common reason people visit emergency departments (EDs); this implies that emergency physicians (EPs) should be experts in managing acute painful conditions. The current trend in the literature, however, demonstrates that EPs possess inadequate knowledge and lack formal training in acute pain management. The purpose of this article is to create a formal educational curriculum that would assist emergency medicine (EM) residents in proper assessment and treatment of acute pain, as well as in providing a solid theoretical and practical knowledge base for managing acute pain in the ED. The authors propose a series of lectures, case-oriented study groups, practical small group sessions, and class-specific didactics with the goal of enhancing the theoretical and practical knowledge of acute pain management in the ED.
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Regression techniques are versatile in their application to medical research because they can measure associations, predict outcomes, and control for confounding variable effects. As one such technique, logistic regression is an efficient and powerful way to analyze the effect of a group of independent variables on a binary outcome by quantifying each independent variable's unique contribution. Using components of linear regression reflected in the logit scale, logistic regression iteratively identifies the strongest linear combination of variables with the greatest probability of detecting the observed outcome. ⋯ The resulting logistic regression model's overall fit to the sample data is assessed using various goodness-of-fit measures, with better fit characterized by a smaller difference between observed and model-predicted values. Use of diagnostic statistics is also recommended to further assess the adequacy of the model. Finally, results for independent variables are typically reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized trial of computer kiosk-expedited management of cystitis in the emergency department.
The objective was to assess the efficiency and safety of an interactive computer kiosk module for the management of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) in emergency departments (EDs). ⋯ An interactive computer kiosk accurately, efficiently, and safely expedited the management of women with uncomplicated UTI in a busy, urban ED. Expanding the use of this technology to other conditions could help to improve ED patient flow.
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The objective was to critically appraise and highlight medical education research studies published in 2010 that were methodologically superior and whose outcomes were pertinent to teaching and education in emergency medicine (EM). ⋯ Forty-one EM educational studies published in 2010 were identified. This critical appraisal reviews and highlights five studies that met a priori quality indicators. Current trends and common methodologic pitfalls in the 2010 papers are noted.
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The management of acutely ill and injured patients is an essential component of medical student education, yet the formal integration of emergency medicine (EM) into the medical school curriculum has progressed slowly since the inception of the specialty. Medical student interest and the number of resident positions in the National Resident Matching Program are higher than any time in the past, yet students often find access to EM faculty and clinical experience limited to a fourth-year rotation. ⋯ Academic emergency physicians (EPs) should advocate our specialty's importance in their medical school curricula using a proactive approach and actively involve themselves in medical student education at all stages of training. The goals of this article are to describe several approaches for EM faculty to expand medical student exposure to the specialty and enhance student experiences in the core principles of EM throughout the undergraduate medical curriculum.