Rural clinical experiences for emergency medicine residents: a curriculum template.

Rural emergency departments (EDs) in the United States are less likely to be staffed with emergency medicine (EM) residency-trained and American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM)-certified physicians than urban EDs. Rural EM clinical experiences during residency training have been suggested as a strategy to encourage future rural practice, but past Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine program requirements and a lack of familiarity with rural rotations in the EM graduate medical education (GME) community have limited their availability. To provide a template for the development and implementation of a rural EM clinical experience, Kern's six-step approach was followed.

Emergency medicine rural rotations: a program director's guide.

The Institute of Medicine's 2006 report titled "Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point" called national attention to the lack of specialty-trained emergency care practitioners, particularly in rural America. One suggested strategy for narrowing the gap between the prevalence of residency-trained, board-certified emergency physicians practicing in rural and urban emergency departments is the development of rural clinical experiences for emergency medicine residents during the course of their training. This article addresses promotion of a rural emergency medicine rotation to hospital leadership and resident recruits, examines funding sources, discusses medical liability and disability insurance options, provides suggestions for meeting faculty and planned educational activity residency review committee requirements, and offers guidance about site selection to direct emergency medicine academic leaders considering or planning a new rural emergency medicine rotation.

Is salt, vitamin, or endocrinopathy causing this encephalopathy? A review of endocrine and metabolic causes of altered level of consciousness.

Altered level of consciousness describes the reason for 3% of critical emergency department (ED) visits. Approximately 85% will be found to have a metabolic or systemic cause. Early laboratory studies such as a bedside glucose test, serum electrolytes, or a urine dipstick test often direct the ED provider toward endocrine or metabolic causes.

An assessment of the faculty development needs of junior clinical faculty in emergency medicine.

Objectives: Academic physicians must be able to access the resources necessary to support their ongoing professional development and meet requirements for continued academic advancement. The authors sought to determine the self-perceived career development needs of junior clinical faculty in emergency medicine (EM) and the availability of educational resources to meet those needs.

Methods: An educational "needs assessment" survey was distributed to 954 American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) members listed in the ACEP database as being faculty at EM residency programs in the United States and having graduated from an EM residency within the past 7 years.

Impact of emergency department intimate partner violence intervention.

The objective of the study is to assess the impact of emergency department (ED) intimate partner violence (IPV) counseling and resource referrals on patient-perceived safety and safety planning. ED patients with risk factors were offered consultation with trained IPV advocacy counselors who completed safety assessments, provided resource referrals, and helped patients develop safety plans. Patients were contacted after ED intervention to assess progress and further assist in IPV counseling.

Differential diagnosis of metabolic acidosis.

Metabolic acidosis is defined as an acidemia created by one of three mechanisms: increased production of acids, decreased excretion of acids, or loss of alkali. This article addresses the identification and correct diagnosis of metabolic acidosis by reviewing important historical factors, pathophysiological principles, clinical presentation,and laboratory findings accompanying common high and normal anion gap metabolic acidoses in emergency department patients.