Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Millions of head computed tomography (CT) scans are ordered annually, but the extent of avoidable imaging is poorly defined. ⋯ About one-third of head CTs currently performed on adults with head injury may be avoidable by applying the CCHR. Avoidance of CT in such patients is unlikely to miss any important injuries.
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The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) has introduced a new testing format for the oral certification examination (OCE): the enhanced oral or "eOral" format. The purpose of this study was to perform initial validity analyses of the eOral format. The two hypotheses were: 1) the case content in the eOral format was sufficiently similar to clinical practice and 2) the eOral case materials were sufficiently similar to clinical practice. The eOral and traditional formats were compared for these characteristics. ⋯ Most emergency physicians reported that the types of cases tested in the traditional and eOral formats were similar to cases encountered in clinical practice. In addition, most physicians found the case materials to be similar to what is seen in clinical practice. This study provides early validity evidence for the eOral format.