Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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As the specialty of emergency medicine (EM) continues to evolve in countries around the world, and as interest in international emergency medicine (IEM) continues to grow within the United States, the IEM Literature Review Group recognizes a need for a high-quality, consolidated, and easily accessible evidence base of literature. In response to that need, the group created an annual publication that strives to provide readers with access to the highest quality and most relevant IEM research. ⋯ Articles were selected for the review according to explicit, predetermined criteria that include both methodologic quality and perceived impact of the research. It is our hope that this annual review will act as a forum for disseminating best practices while also stimulating further research in the field of IEM.
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Multicenter Study
Real-time inter-rater reliability of the Council of Emergency Medicine residency directors standardized direct observation assessment tool.
Developed by the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), the standardized direct observation assessment tool (SDOT) is an evaluation instrument used to assess residents' clinical skills in the emergency department (ED). In a previous study examining the inter-rater agreement of the tool, faculty scored simulated resident-patient encounters. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the inter-rater agreement of the SDOT in real-time evaluations of residents in the ED. ⋯ The SDOT demonstrated excellent inter-rater agreement when analyzed with liberal agreement and when dichotomized as a pass/fail measure and fair to good agreement for most measures with exact agreement. The SDOT can be useful and reliable when evaluating residents' clinical skills in the ED, particularly as it relates to marginal performance.
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Effective feedback is critical to medical education. Little is known about emergency medicine (EM) attending and resident physician perceptions of feedback. The focus of this study was to examine perceptions of the educational feedback that attending physicians give to residents in the clinical environment of the emergency department (ED). The authors compared attending and resident satisfaction with real-time feedback and hypothesized that the two groups would report different overall satisfaction with the feedback they currently give and receive in the ED. ⋯ Attending physician satisfaction with the quality, timeliness, and frequency of feedback given is higher than resident physician satisfaction with feedback received. Attending and resident physicians have differing perceptions of who initiates feedback and how long it takes to provide effective feedback. Knowledge of these differences in perceptions about feedback may be used to direct future educational efforts to improve feedback in the ED.
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To assess the ability of a screen-based simulation-training program to improve emergency medicine and pediatric resident performance in critical pediatric resuscitation knowledge, confidence, and skills. ⋯ In this study, improvements in resident knowledge, confidence, and performance of certain skills in simulated pediatric cardiac arrest scenarios suggest that screen-based simulations may be an effective way to enhance resuscitation skills of pediatric providers. These results should be confirmed using a randomized design with an appropriate control group.
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The purpose of this article is to highlight medical education research studies published in 2008 that were methodologically superior and whose outcomes were pertinent to teaching and education in emergency medicine. ⋯ This review highlights quality medical education research studies published in 2008, with outcomes of relevance to teaching and education in emergency medicine. It focuses on research methodology, notes current trends in the use of technology for learning in emergency medicine, and suggests future avenues for continued rigorous study in education.