Mobile Social Screening and Referral Intervention in a Pediatric Emergency Department.

Objective: Many families in pediatric emergency departments (PED) have unmet social needs, which may be detected and addressed with the use of a digital social needs intervention. Our objective was to characterize the feasibility and effectiveness of utilizing personal phones or a PED tablet for screening and referral to social services.

Methods: We conducted a prospective single-arm intervention study using a convenience sample of caregivers and adult patients in an urban PED between May 2019 and October 2020.

"Why bother?": Barriers to reporting gender and sexual harassment in emergency medicine.

Background: Gender and sexual harassment in emergency medicine (EM) is persistent in the workplace but remains underreported. Barriers to reporting in EM are largely unknown. This study explored barriers to reporting gender and sexual harassment among EM faculty and residents and potential improvements to reporting systems.

How Should Emergency Department Clinicians Respond to Unmet Dental Needs?

The division between medical and dental care exacerbates health inequity and forces many with compromised access to seek oral health care in emergency departments (EDs). Since dentists are best positioned to offer quality care for most patients' oral health problems, this commentary on a case suggests why ED clinicians should offer appropriate oral health referrals and resources to those they serve and why all health professionals should advocate for systems-level policy and organizational changes to increase patients' access to oral health care.

Association of limited English proficiency and increased pediatric emergency department revisits.

Objective: Limited English proficiency (LEP) is a risk factor for health care inequity and an important focus for improving communication and care quality. This study examines the association between LEP and pediatric emergency department (ED) revisits.

Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study of patients 0 to 21 years old discharged home after an initial visit from an academic, tertiary care pediatric ED from January 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.

Increasing inclusivity in patient centered research begins with language.

Emergency departments frequently serve marginalized populations. Spanish-speaking families who come to the ED often have high rates of unmet social needs. Our study investigated how to efficiently screen families for unmet social needs in an emergency department.

Geographically Indexed Referral Databases to Address Social Needs in the Emergency Department.

Introduction: Unmet health-related social needs (HRSN) are among the drivers of disparities in morbidity and mortality during public health emergencies such as the novel coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Although emergency departments (ED) see a high volume of patients with HRSN, ED providers have limited time to complete detailed assessments of patients' HRSN and are not always able to provide up-to-date and comprehensive information to patients on available community resources. Electronic, geographically indexed resource database systems have the potential to provide an efficient way for emergency physicians to rapidly identify community resources in settings where immediate social work consultation is not accessible.

Improving Understanding of Screening Questions for Social Risk and Social Need Among Emergency Department Patients.

Introduction: With recent healthcare policy changes, including the creation of accountable care organizations, screening for social risks such as food and housing insecurity has become increasingly common in the healthcare system. However, the wide variety of different tools used for screening makes it challenging to compare across systems. In addition, the majority of tools used to measure social risks have only been tested in primary care settings and may not be optimal for emergency department (ED) use.

Patient and Community Organization Perspectives on Accessing Social Resources from the Emergency Department: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Social risks adversely affect health and are associated with increased healthcare utilization and costs. Emergency department (ED) patients have high rates of social risk; however, little is known about best practices for ED-based screening or linkage to community resources. We examined the perspectives of patients and community organizations regarding social risk screening and linkage from the ED.