Background: Reports of mistreatment are an important first step to improving medical students' learning environment. Students may not report mistreatment due to a lack of awareness of institutional policies, reporting procedures, or for fear of reprisal.
Aim: We sought to determine if a medical school cross-platform mobile application (app) could be used to improve students' awareness of mistreatment policies and procedures.
Telehealth services, specifically telemedicine audio-video and audio-only patient encounters, expanded dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic through temporary waivers and flexibilities tied to the public health emergency. Early studies demonstrate significant potential to advance the quintuple aim (patient experience, health outcomes, cost, clinician well-being, and equity). Supported well, telemedicine can particularly improve patient satisfaction, health outcomes, and equity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Existing curricula and recommendations on the incorporation of structural competency and vulnerability into medical education have not provided clear guidance on how best to do so within emergency medicine (EM). The goal of this scoping review and consensus building process was to provide a comprehensive overview of structural competency, link structural competency to educational and patient care outcomes, and identify existing gaps in the literature to inform curricular implementation and future research in EM.
Methods: A scoping review focused on structural competency and vulnerability following Arksey and O'Malley's six-step framework was performed in concurrence with a multistep consensus process culminating in the 2021 SAEM Consensus Conference.
Patients experiencing homelessness visit the emergency department (ED) often and have worse clinical outcomes. Caring for this patient population is complex, challenging, and resource-intensive. Emergency medicine (EM) education is lacking in formal curricula on the topic of homelessness, despite benefits for resident morale and patient care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The increasing entry of women into medicine, a traditionally male-gendered institution, has revealed much about the gendered politics of medical practice. Women are required to negotiate conflicting gender-normative roles and expectations as they develop their professional identities. Relatively little is known with regard to the study of gender identity and professional development in emergency medicine (EM), with even fewer studies specifically examining women EM residents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the emergency department (ED) is the "front door" of the hospital and the primary site by which most patients access the health care system, issues of inequity are especially salient for emergency medicine (EM) practice. Improving the health of ED patients, especially those who are stigmatized and disenfranchised, depends on having emergency physicians that are cognizant and attentive to their needs in and out of the medical encounter. EM resident education has traditionally incorporated a "cultural competency" model to equip residents with tools to combat individual bias and stigma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the absence of social services and robust social networks, staff working at social service institutions serve as a significant element of sociality in the lives of a segment of people experiencing homelessness. Relationships forged within these institutions prove to be avenues of emotional support and material resources that facilitate the survival of some homeless people. To illustrate this point, this article draws on data collected over the course of 18 months between July 2014 and December 2016.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Emergency departments (EDs) are important providers for homeless individuals, providing vital health care and meeting the subsistence needs of many homeless patients (eg, food, water, shelter). Studies that have examined the proportion of patients in the ED setting who experience homelessness have been conducted primarily in the northeastern United States. We hypothesized that findings from prior studies, conducted primarily in the Northeast, would not generalize to other regions of the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper explores the possibility of a pedagogy about health and human rights that is understandable and persuasive to undergraduate students yet does not succumb to a reductive dualism of optimism and pessimism. In 2014, we presented the topic of health and human rights in an introductory undergraduate global health course in conjunction with the exhibit "Health is a Human Right: Race and Place in America" at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. The exhibition highlighted the United States' complicated legacy and failures of health and human rights, with an emphasis on ongoing racial and socioeconomic inequities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We aimed to synthesize the available evidence on the demographics, prevalence, clinical characteristics, and evidence-based management of homeless persons in the emergency department (ED). Where appropriate, we highlight knowledge gaps and suggest directions for future research.
Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search following databases: PubMed, Ovid, and Google Scholar for articles published between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2016.
Introduction: Emergency department (ED) hospitalizations for skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) have increased, while concern for costs has grown and outpatient parenteral antibiotic options have expanded. To identify opportunities to reduce admissions, we explored factors that influence the decision to hospitalize an ED patient with a SSTI.
Methods: We conducted a prospective study of adults presenting to 12 U.
Despite limited evidence regarding their utility, infrared thermal detection systems (ITDS) are increasingly being used for mass fever detection. We compared temperature measurements for 3 ITDS (FLIR ThermoVision A20M [FLIR Systems Inc., Boston, MA, USA], OptoTherm Thermoscreen [OptoTherm Thermal Imaging Systems and Infrared Cameras Inc.
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