Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine the association between emergency medicine (EM) program format (postgraduate year [PGY] 1-3, 2-4, or 1-4) and two dependent variables: fellowship training and academic career. ⋯ Four-year formats, especially 1-4, were associated with more common pursuit of fellowships and academics than the 1-3 format. Fellowship pursuit was uncommon (4% to 9% of graduates), whereas 18% to 34% initially chose academics.
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Emergency medicine and its academic teaching programs face an ethical dilemma surrounding the question of practicing procedures on the newly dead. For many years, procedures have been practiced on the newly dead, but few institutions have had policies addressing the practice. This article considers the ethical arguments both for and against practicing procedures on the newly dead without consent, reviews the empirical studies on the subject, and presents the positions of other professional societies, before concluding with the position of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). ⋯ The practice should not occur behind closed doors or on an ad hoc basis without clearly articulated guidelines. With improvements in technology, including patient simulation and virtual reality, the need for the practice may decrease, but there is no current evidence that is compelling regarding the best methods of teaching procedural skills. Given the importance of protecting trust in the profession of medicine and the existing evidence that the public would expect that consent be obtained, SAEM recommends that families be asked for consent prior to practicing procedures on the newly dead.
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To determine the effect of intravenous (IV) magnesium sulfate on the length of stay (LOS) for children admitted with sickle cell pain crisis. ⋯ IV magnesium appears to decrease the LOS for children with sickle cell pain crisis.
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To determine predictors of asthma morbidity in African American patients with asthma. Proxies for asthma morbidity were emergency department (ED) visits for asthma and hospitalizations for asthma. ⋯ It appears that African American patients with asthma who had previous hospitalizations for asthma within the past year or use a peak flow meter daily (a marker for more severe asthma) are more likely to visit the ED in the future or to be hospitalized for asthma, respectively. These patients need to be targeted and treated more aggressively to improve asthma care and decrease morbidity. The apparent protective effect of the presence of pets on reducing ED visits is unclear at this time, and the findings need to be replicated and evaluated further.