JACEP
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A 52-hour course in emergency medicine for first-year medical students was developed from the Department of Transportation's (DOT) training program for emergency medical technicians (EMT). The objective of the course was to train students to provide life support and emergency care in the field at the level of competence of the EMT. ⋯ The program is well received by students and allows for introduction of clinical material into the first-year curriculum. The DOT training program for the EMT provides a useful model that, with slight adaptation, is appropriate for the first-year medical student.
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We examined six factors that may help to explain why parents take their children to hospital emergency departments: arrival time; travel time; who decided the patient should go; did the patient have a physician; did the parent attempt physician contact, and where the parent would have preferred to have gone for treatment. Results indicate that 47% of the nonemergency visits occurred during the time when physicians maintain office hours. Most visits were made by patients living less than 15 minutes away from the hospital. ⋯ Most parents did not try to contact a physician prior to the visit. Indeed, 46% of the parents preferred to take their children to the emergency department rather than to a physician's office. Finally, 74% of the parents who attempted some contact with a member of the health care system were referred to the emergengy department for care.