Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Pediatric emergency department crowding is associated with a lower likelihood of hospital admission.
Emergency department (ED) crowding may affect disposition decision-making. The objective was to measure the effect of ED crowding on probability of admission and return visit to the ED after discharge. ⋯ Increasing ED crowding is associated with a lower likelihood of hospital admission and lower frequency of return visits within 48 hours.
-
Ultrasound (US) has well-documented utility in critical procedures performed in the emergency department. It has been described as a "skill integral to the practice of emergency medicine" in the 2007 Model of Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine. One of the ideal uses for US in critical care may be in the performance of emergent cricothyroidotomy. To the best of our knowledge there is currently no description of how to perform an US-guided open cricothyroidotomy in the literature. ⋯ Ultrasound-guided bougie-assisted cricothyroidotomy is a novel technique that may be beneficial in emergent open cricothyroidotomy. The data suggest that this technique is rapid, with a median time to completion of 26.2 seconds. The data also suggest that the procedure may have a low failure rate, with 20 of 21 cadavers undergoing successful cricothyroidotomy.
-
This study aimed to investigate whether early epinephrine administration in out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (OHCA) patients was associated with improved outcomes and to address the selection bias inherent in observational studies (more severe cases are more likely to receive epinephrine). ⋯ Early epinephrine administration may be associated with higher rates of intact neurologic survival and any survival in adult bystander-witnessed OHCA patients. This article provides a potential method to address the selection bias inherent in observational studies that examine the effects of drug administration in OHCA patients.
-
he objective was to report the results of a survey conducted jointly by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine (AACEM) of faculty salaries, benefits, work hours, and department demographics for institutions sponsoring residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine (RRC-EM). ⋯ The salaries for full-time EM faculty reported in this survey were higher than those found in the AAMC survey for the same time period in the majority of categories for both academic rank and geographic region. On average, female faculty are paid 10% to 13% less than their male counterparts. Full-time EM faculty work an average of 20 to 23 clinical hours and 16 to 19 nonclinical hours per week, which is similar to the work hours reported in previous SAEM surveys.
-
Drug overdose is a leading cause of cardiac arrest and is currently the second leading cause of overall injury-related fatality in the United States. Despite these statistics, the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events (ACVEs) in emergency department (ED) patients following acute drug overdose is unknown. With this study, we address the 2010 American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care update calling for research to characterize the incidence of in-hospital ACVE following drug overdose. ⋯ Based on this study of adult patients with acute drug overdose, ACVE may occur in up to 9.3% overall and up to 16.9% of hospital admissions. Implications for the evaluation and triage of ED patients with acute drug overdose require further study with regard to optimizing interventions to prevent adverse events.