Articles: emergency-medicine.
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The increasing complexity of ED physician performance measures has resulted in significant challenges, including duplicative and conflicting measures that fail to account for different ED settings. We performed a cross sectional analysis of correlations between measures to characterize their relationships and determine if differences exist between academic versus non-academic ED settings. Pearson correlations were calculated for 12 measures among 220 ED physicians at 11 EDs. ⋯ Stronger measure correlations were found in the academic setting compared to the non-academic setting. Strong correlations between ED measures imply opportunities to reduce competing performance demands on clinicians. Differences in correlations at academic versus non-academic settings suggest that it may be inappropriate to apply the same performance standards across settings.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2023
Pathology testing in non-trauma patients presenting to the emergency department with recurrent seizures.
Excessive pathology testing is associated with ED congestion, increased healthcare costs and adverse patient health outcomes. This study aimed to determine the frequency, yield and influence of pathology tests among patients presenting to the ED with atraumatic recurrent seizures. ⋯ Most patients presenting to the ED with atraumatic recurrent seizures underwent pathology tests. Abnormalities were frequently detected but were uncommonly associated with change in management. Abnormal pathology test results were associated with changes in antiepileptic drug management although rarely led to acute changes in patient management. This study suggests that pathology tests may be excessively requested in this population.
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Southern medical journal · Oct 2023
Scholarly Productivity of US Medical Schools Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic profoundly disrupted scientific research but was accompanied by a rapid increase in biomedical research focused on this new disease. We aimed to study how the academic productivity of US medical schools changed during the pandemic and what structural characteristics of medical schools were associated with trends in scholarly publication. ⋯ Our results demonstrate that scientific output increased during the pandemic at most medical schools, despite significant barriers to research experienced by individual investigators. Further attention is needed to enhance equity in research opportunities, considering diverging trends in productivity between more- and less-advantaged schools, however.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2023
Will code one day run a code? Performance of language models on ACEM primary examinations and implications.
Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated mixed results in their ability to pass various specialist medical examination and their performance within the field of emergency medicine remains unknown. ⋯ Large language models, by passing the ACEM primary examination, show potential as tools for medical education and practice. However, limitations exist and are discussed.