Qualitative Interviews to Add Patient Perspectives in Colorectal Cancer Screening: Improvements in a Learning Health System.

Health systems are interested in increasing colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates as CRC is a leading cause of preventable cancer death. Learning health systems are ones that use data to continually improve care. Data can and should include qualitative local perspectives to improve patient and provider education and care.

Multiples of Median Income: A Tool to Call out Drugs that are High Cost and Low Value.

As currently priced, many medications are harming society because they are high cost and low value, and they divert resources from interventions that could promote the health and well-being of Americans to a much greater extent. We believe that cost-effectiveness, stated as dollars per quality-adjusted life-year, is not meaningful for many Americans. By contrast, a measure indexed to household income would be far more salient.

Postmortem Sperm Retrieval in the Emergency Department: A Case Report and Review of Available Guidelines.

Postmortem sperm retrieval (PMSR) requests and retrievals are increasing in the emergency department (ED) setting. Few EDs have protocols in place, and many emergency physicians (EP) lack the knowledge of how to proceed when such situations arise. We report the case of a 31-year-old male cardiac-arrest victim who expired in the ED, after which his wife requested PMSR.

A Case of Neurologically Intact Survival after 2 hours and 50 minutes of Euthermic Cardiac Arrest Treated with Mechanical CPR and Intra-arrest Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

We report a case of a 56 year old male in ventricular fibrillation (VF) cardiac arrest for a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes who was diagnosed with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) during a brief 10 min period of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). The patient underwent successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) while receiving mechanical chest compressions for ongoing VF. Our case demonstrates the potential for neurologically intact survival in VF cardiac arrest patients despite prolonged periods of VF who are treated with mechanical CPR and intra-arrest PCI.

Philanthropy and Beyond: Creating Shared Value to Promote Well-Being for Individuals in Their Communities.

Health care organizations can magnify the impact of their community service and other philanthropic activities by implementing programs that create shared value. By definition, shared value is created when an initiative generates benefit for the sponsoring organization while also generating societal and community benefit. Because the programs generate benefit for the sponsoring organizations, the magnitude of any particular initiative is limited only by the market for the benefit and not the resources that are available for philanthropy.

The future of emergency medicine.

Background: The specialty of emergency medicine (EM) continues to experience a significant workforce shortage in the face of increasing demand for emergency care.

Summary: In July 2009, representatives of the leading EM organizations met in Dallas for the Future of Emergency Medicine Summit. Attendees at the Future of Emergency Medicine Summit agreed on the following: 1) Emergency medical care is an essential community service that should be available to all; 2) An insufficient emergency physician workforce also represents a potential threat to patient safety; 3) Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education/American Osteopathic Association (AOA)-accredited EM residency training and American Board of Medical Specialties/AOA EM board certification is the recognized standard for physician providers currently entering a career in emergency care; 4) Physician supply shortages in all fields contribute to-and will continue to contribute to-a situation in which providers with other levels of training may be a necessary part of the workforce for the foreseeable future; 5) A maldistribution of EM residency-trained physicians persists, with few pursuing practice in small hospital or rural settings; 6) Assuring that the public receives high quality emergency care while continuing to produce highly skilled EM specialists through EM training programs is the challenge for EM's future; 7) It is important that all providers of emergency care receive continuing postgraduate education.

The future of emergency medicine.

Physician shortages are being projected for most medical specialties. The specialty of emergency medicine continues to experience a significant workforce shortage in the face of increasing demand for emergency care. The limited supply of emergency physicians, emergency nurses, and other resources is creating an urgent, untenable patient care problem.

The primary care differential diagnosis of inhalational anthrax.

Purpose: Inhalational anthrax is an extremely rare infectious disease with nonspecific initial symptoms, thus making diagnosis on clinical grounds difficult. After a covert release of anthrax spores, primary care physicians will be among the first to evaluate cases. This study defines the primary care differential diagnosis of inhalational anthrax.