Indirect impact of violent events on emergency department utilization and disease patterns.

Background: The health effects of war and armed conflict on casualties and mental health of those directly exposed has been well described, but few studies have explored the indirect health effects of violent events. This paper assesses the indirect health impact of several violent events that took place in Beirut in 2013-2014 on ED visit utilization and disease patterns.

Methods: As tracked by media reports, there were 9 violent events in Beirut during 2013-2014.

What Do Program Directors Look for in an Applicant?

Program directors (PDs) are faced with an increasing number of applicants to emergency medicine (EM) and a limited number of positions. This article will provide candidates with insight to what PDs look for in an applicant. We will elaborate on the performance in the emergency medicine clerkship, interview, clinical rotations (apart from EM), board scores, Alpha Omega Alpha membership, letters of recommendation, Medical Student Performance Evaluation or dean's letter, extracurricular activities, Gold Humanism Society membership, medical school attended, research and scholarly projects, personal statement, and commitment to EM.

Selecting a Medical School Advisor.

Having an advisor offers medical students many advantages, including increased likelihood of matching into their top choices. Interestingly, students who choose emergency medicine (EM) as a specialty are more likely to seek advising. However, finding and optimally utilizing an EM faculty advisor is often challenging for the medical student.

Improving Emergency Department radiology transportation time: a successful implementation of lean methodology.

Background: Emergency Department overcrowding has become a global problem and a growing safety and quality concern. Radiology and laboratory turnaround time, ED boarding and increased ED visits are some of the factors that contribute to ED overcrowding. Lean methods have been used in the ED to address multiple flow challenges from improving door-to-doctor time to reducing length of stay.

Improving Emergency Department Door to Doctor Time and Process Reliability: A Successful Implementation of Lean Methodology.

The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using lean management methods on improving emergency department door to doctor times at a tertiary care hospital.We performed a before and after study at an academic urban emergency department with 49,000 annual visits after implementing a series of lean driven interventions over a 20 month period. The primary outcome was mean door to doctor time and the secondary outcome was length of stay of both admitted and discharged patients.

Improving hospital discharge time: a successful implementation of Six Sigma methodology.

Delays in discharging patients can impact hospital and emergency department (ED) throughput. The discharge process is complex and involves setting specific challenges that limit generalizability of solutions. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of using Six Sigma methods to improve the patient discharge process.

Media exposure, mediated social comparison to idealized images of muscularity, and anabolic steroid use.

This study examined the association between anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use and dominant sociocultural factors, specifically media exposure to idealized images of male muscularity, and mediated social comparison trends among a sample of young Arab adults. The study found evidence that participants more exposed to content that promotes muscularity and those who idealize images of muscularity and perceive them as motivators for achieving muscularity are more likely to be AAS users. It also found that a significant percentage of participants used at least one kind of dietary supplement and that the level of AAS use among health club participants indicates it is a significant public health problem in Lebanon.

Acute allergic reactions in the emergency department: characteristics and management practices.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the incidence of emergency department (ED) visits for acute allergic reactions, identify the triggers, assess the severity, evaluate the management practices, and examine patient outcomes at a single-center ED in Lebanon.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review of all patient charts presenting with a final diagnosis of acute allergic reaction to a single ED within a 6-month period (July-December 2009) was carried out. Age, sex, triggers, management in the ED and at discharge, disposition, and return visit were determined.

Improving door-to-antibiotic time in severely septic emergency department patients.

Background: The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines recommend that broad-spectrum antibiotics be administered to severely septic patients within 3 h of emergency department (ED) admission. Despite the well-established evidence regarding the benefit of timely antibiotics, adoption of the SSC recommendation into daily clinical practice has been slow and sporadic.

Study Objective: To study the impact of storing broad-spectrum antibiotics in an ED automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) on the timeliness of antibiotic administration in severely septic patients presenting to the ED.