Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Therapeutic hypothermia has been shown to improve neurologic outcome and survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) following return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and current guidelines recommend therapeutic hypothermia for all comatose survivors of OHCA. However, recommendations for nonshockable rhythms are not as strongly supported. Our study aims to provide further evidence on the use of therapeutic hypothermia in nonshockable rhythms. ⋯ Based on this retrospective study, therapeutic hypothermia is not associated with improved survival in patients with OHCA secondary to nonshockable rhythms. Given the limitations of our study, further prospective trials to assess the effect of therapeutic hypothermia for OHCA with nonshockable rhythms are warranted.
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The generation, validation, and then translation of definitive evidence to bedside evidence-based practice is inconsistent and presents many challenges to emergency department (ED) researchers and clinicians. This is particularly true for diagnostic imaging in the ED, where benefits and drawbacks may be difficult to assess in the chaotic ED setting. This article describes, in large part, the experience of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) in deriving and validating the traumatic brain injury prediction rules and how PECARN is translating these prediction rules into clinical practice. Furthermore, we discuss the potential for patient/parent shared decision-making with a focus on patient-centered outcomes in ED research and the role this shared decision-making may play in enhancing knowledge translation and implementation of evidence-based care in the ED.
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Patient-centered emergency diagnostic imaging relies on efficient communication and multispecialty care coordination to ensure optimal imaging utilization. The construct of the emergency diagnostic imaging care coordination cycle with three main phases (pretest, test, and posttest) provides a useful framework to evaluate care coordination in patient-centered emergency diagnostic imaging. This article summarizes findings reached during the patient-centered outcomes session of the 2015 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference "Diagnostic Imaging in the Emergency Department: A Research Agenda to Optimize Utilization." The primary objective was to develop a research agenda focused on 1) defining component parts of the emergency diagnostic imaging care coordination process, 2) identifying gaps in communication that affect emergency diagnostic imaging, and 3) defining optimal methods of communication and multidisciplinary care coordination that ensure patient-centered emergency diagnostic imaging. Prioritized research questions provided the framework to define a research agenda for multidisciplinary care coordination in emergency diagnostic imaging.
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Imaging is critical for the care of emergency department (ED) patients. However, much of the imaging performed for acute care today is overutilization, creating substantial cost without significant benefit. Further, the value of imaging is not easily defined, as imaging only affects outcomes indirectly, through interaction with treatment. ⋯ The six-tier efficacy hierarchy of Fryback and Thornbury enables understanding of the value of imaging on multiple levels, ranging from technical efficacy to medical decision-making and higher-level patient and societal outcomes. The imaging efficacy hierarchy also allows definition of imaging quality through the Institute of Medicine (IOM)'s quality domains of safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equitability and provides a foundation for quality improvement. In this article, the authors elucidate the Fryback and Thornbury framework to define the value of imaging in the ED and to relate emergency imaging to the IOM quality domains.
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Researchers have attempted to optimize imaging utilization by describing which clinical variables are more predictive of acute disease and, conversely, what combination of variables can obviate the need for imaging. These results are then used to develop evidence-based clinical pathways, clinical decision instruments, and clinical practice guidelines. ⋯ We convened a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders and held online and telephone discussions over a 6-month period culminating in an in-person meeting at the 2015 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference. We identified the following four overarching research questions: 1) what determinants (barriers and facilitators) influence emergency physicians' use of evidence-based interventions when ordering imaging in the ED; 2) what implementation strategies at the institutional level can improve the use of evidence-based interventions for ED imaging; 3) what interventions at the health care policy level can facilitate the adoption of evidence-based interventions for ED imaging; and 4) how can health information technology, including electronic health records, clinical decision support, and health information exchanges, be used to increase awareness, use, and adherence to evidence-based interventions for ED imaging? Advancing research that addresses these questions will provide valuable information as to how we can use evidence-based interventions to optimize imaging utilization and ultimately improve patient care.