Who is coming in? Evaluation of physician performance within multi-physician emergency departments.

Background: This study aimed to examine how physician performance metrics are affected by the speed of other attendings (co-attendings) concurrently staffing the ED.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using patient data from two EDs between January-2018 and February-2020. Machine learning was used to predict patient length of stay (LOS) conditional on being assigned a physician of average speed, using patient- and departmental-level variables.

Inequities among patient placement in emergency department hallway treatment spaces.

Background: Limited capacity in the emergency department (ED) secondary to boarding and crowding has resulted in patients receiving care in hallways to provide access to timely evaluation and treatment. However, there are concerns raised by physicians and patients regarding a decrease in patient centered care and quality resulting from hallway care. We sought to explore social risk factors associated with hallway placement and operational outcomes.

Exploratory Descriptive Analysis of Smart Speaker Utilization in the Emergency Department During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights stated that they would use discretion when enforcing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regarding remote communication technologies that promoted telehealth delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emergency department initiated resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is feasible and associated with improvements in end-tidal carbon dioxide.

Objectives: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) claims the lives of approximately 350,000 people in the United States each year. Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) when used as an adjunct to advanced cardiac life support may improve cardio-cerebral perfusion. Our primary research objective was to determine the feasibility of emergency department (ED)-initiated REBOA for OHCA patients in an academic urban ED.

Development and Evaluation of Resident-Championed Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a powerful clinical tool that has seen widespread adoption, including in Internal Medicine (IM), yet standardized curricula designed by trained faculty are scant. To address the demand for POCUS education at our institution, we created a resident-championed curriculum with support from skilled faculty across multiple specialties. Our objective was to teach postgraduate year (PGY)-3 IM residents the basics of POCUS for evaluation of the pulmonary, cardiac, and abdominal systems through resident-developed workshops.

Using Ultrasonography to Assess the Effectiveness of Cricoid Pressure on Esophageal Compression.

Background: Cricoid pressure during intubation has been used for decades as a way to potentially occlude the esophagus to avoid aspiration of gastric contents. However, recent evidence has questioned the effectiveness of this maneuver.

Objective: This study uses a noninvasive modality, ultrasonography, to determine the anatomic position of the cricoid cartilage and the esophagus and examines the effectiveness of cricoid pressure on esophageal compression.

Point-of-care focused cardiac ultrasound for the assessment of thoracic aortic dimensions, dilation, and aneurysmal disease.

Objectives:   Thoracic aortic aneurysm and thoracic aortic dissection are related and potentially deadly diseases that present with nonspecific symptoms. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) may detect thoracic aortic pathology and is being increasingly performed by the emergency physician at the bedside; however, the accuracy of point-of-care (POC) focused cardiac ultrasound (FOCUS) for thoracic aortic aneurysm and thoracic aortic dissection has not been studied. The objective of this pilot study was to explore the agreement, sensitivity, and specificity of FOCUS for thoracic aortic dimensions, dilation, and aneurysm compared with CT angiography (CTA) as the reference standard.