Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Regulatory bodies and institutional review boards are increasingly considering human subjects who are vulnerable to research not because of their intrinsic characteristics, but because of the particular situations or circumstances that they bring with them as potential research participants. Several subsets of emergency department patients may be considered vulnerable in the research setting. ⋯ These issues should be carefully considered when including such patients in research protocols. Special efforts should be made to ensure voluntary participation and understanding of the purposes and risks of participation.
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The recent Institute of Medicine report "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care" chronicles a growing body of literature describing racial and ethnic disparities in health care delivery. It suggests a research agenda designed to better understand and eventually eliminate these disparities. ⋯ One of the goals of that meeting was to develop a research agenda for emergency medicine researchers working on disparities in health care. This report describes the results of the consensus conference and suggests such a research agenda.
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To describe the incidence of alcohol and drug testing in adolescents admitted for traumatic injury and to analyze these results with reference to race, ethnicity, and gender differences. ⋯ Whereas small disparities in alcohol and drug testing were noted in some minority race-based groupings, systematic racial bias is not evident in adolescent trauma patients.
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To determine if differences exist in hospital and intensive care unit (ICU)/operating room admission rates based on health insurance status. ⋯ Whereas there was no difference in admission rates to the ICU/operating room by insurance status, this single-center study does suggest an association between insurance status and admission to a general hospital service, which may or may not be causally related. Factors other than provider bias may be responsible for this observed difference.
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To examine the influence of insurance, race, and gender on the likelihood of hospitalization among trauma patients. ⋯ These results suggest that the disposition of trauma patients from the ED may be influenced by insurance and demographic characteristics in addition to the patient's clinical condition.