Impact of Health Information Exchange on Emergency Medicine Clinical Decision Making.

Introduction: The objective of the study was to understand the immediate utility of health information exchange (HIE) on emergency department (ED) providers by interviewing them shortly after the information was retrieved. Prior studies of physician perceptions regarding HIE have only been performed outside of the care environment.

Methods: Trained research assistants interviewed resident physicians, physician assistants and attending physicians using a semi-structured questionnaire within two hours of making a HIE request.

Shock therapy. How donut magnets can suspend inappropriate ICD shocks.

EMS crews encounter implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) daily, but these encounters rarely involve ICDs firing repeatedly on an awake, alert and understandably frightened individual. But that's exactly what happened when an EMS crew from Cottage Grove, Minn., responded to a man with a known heart condition who reported that his implantable defibrillator was firing inappropriately.

Effect of paramedic student internship on performance on the National Registry Written Exam.

Background: Paramedic students are exposed to numerous patient contacts during their required internship experience. There is no current research examining paramedic student internship experience in relation to performance on the written portion of the National Registry Exam (NRE-W). METHODS.