Background: Mechanically ventilated patients increasingly spend hours in emergency department beds before ICU admission. This study evaluated the performance of blood gases in mechanically ventilated subjects in the emergency department and subsequent changes to mechanical ventilation settings.
Methods: This was a multi-center, prospective, observational study of subjects ventilated in the emergency department, conducted at 3 academic emergency departments from July 2011 to March 2013.
Introduction: Due to hospital crowding, mechanically ventilated patients are increasingly spending hours boarding in emergency departments (ED) before intensive care unit (ICU) admission. This study aims to evaluate the association between time ventilated in the ED and in-hospital mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS).
Methods: This was a multi-center, prospective, observational study of patients ventilated in the ED, conducted at three academic Level I Trauma Centers from July 2011 to March 2013.
Introduction: Although emergency physicians frequently intubate patients, management of mechanical ventilation has not been emphasized in emergency medicine (EM) education or clinical practice. The objective of this study was to quantify EM attendings' education, experience, and knowledge regarding mechanical ventilation in the emergency department.
Methods: We developed a survey of academic EM attendings' educational experiences with ventilators and a knowledge assessment tool with nine clinical questions.
Objective: Mechanical ventilation with low tidal volumes has been shown to improve outcomes for patients both with and without acute respiratory distress syndrome. This study aims to characterize mechanically ventilated patients in the emergency department (ED), describe the initial ED ventilator settings, and assess for associations between lung protective ventilation strategies in the ED and outcomes.
Methods: This was a multicenter, prospective, observational study of mechanical ventilation at 3 academic EDs.
Purpose: Prior descriptions of the psychometric properties of validated knowledge assessment tools designed to determine Emergency medicine (EM) residents understanding of physiologic and clinical concepts related to mechanical ventilation are lacking. In this setting, we have performed this study to describe the psychometric and performance properties of a novel knowledge assessment tool that measures EM residents' knowledge of topics in mechanical ventilation.
Methods: Results from a multicenter, prospective, survey study involving 219 EM residents from 8 academic hospitals in northeastern United States were analyzed to quantify reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination of each of the 9 questions included in the knowledge assessment tool for 3 weeks, beginning in January 2013.
Background: Fluid responsiveness is a measure of preload dependence and is defined as an increase in cardiac output due to volume expansion. Recent publications have suggested that variation in amplitude of the pulse oximetry waveform may be predictive of fluid responsiveness. The pleth variability index (PVI) was developed as a noninvasive bedside measurement of this variation in the pulse oximetry waveform.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Previous literature has shown gender disparities in the care of acute ischemic stroke. Compared to men, women wait longer for brain imaging and are less likely to receive intravenous (IV) tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Emergency department (ED) triage is an important step in the rapid assessment of stroke patients and is a possible contributor to disparities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although Emergency physicians frequently intubate patients, management of mechanical ventilation has not been emphasized in emergency medicine (EM) residency curricula.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to quantify EM residents' education, experience, and knowledge regarding mechanical ventilation.
Methods: We developed a survey of residents' educational experiences with ventilators and an assessment tool with nine clinical questions.
Cerebrovascular neurologic emergencies including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and migraine are leading causes of death and disability that are frequently diagnosed and treated in the emergency department (ED). Although sex and gender differences in neurologic emergencies are beginning to become clearer, there are many unanswered questions about how emergency physicians should incorporate sex and gender into their research initiatives, patient evaluations, and overall management plans for these conditions. After evaluating the existing gaps in the literature, a core group of ED researchers developed a draft of future research priorities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Emergent intubation is associated with a high rate of complications. Neuromuscular blocking agents are routinely used in the operating room and emergency department to facilitate intubation. However, use of neuromuscular blocking agents during emergent airway management outside of the operating room and emergency department is controversial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sepsis resuscitation bundle is the result of an effort on behalf of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to translate individual guideline recommendations into standardized, achievable goals for physicians caring for the critically ill patient. Implementation of this bundle is associated with decreased mortality. Many of the bundle items reflect components of therapy shown to improve mortality in the seminal early goal-directed therapy trial for severe sepsis and septic shock, including an initial lactate measurement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Early treatment of sepsis in Emergency Department (ED) patients has lead to improved outcomes, making early identification of the disease essential. The presence of systemic inflammatory response criteria aids in recognition of infection, although the reliability of these markers is variable.
Study Objective: This study aims to quantify the ability of abnormal temperature, white blood cell (WBC) count, and bandemia to identify bacteremia in ED patients with suspected infection.
Background: Morbidity and Mortality conferences (M&M) are used to meet many of the Core Competencies required by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education for residency training programs. This study seeks to describe and quantify different types of M&M conferences among Emergency Medicine (EM) training programs.
Methods: A confidential survey was e-mailed to the Program Directors (PD) or Assistant PD of all United States (US) Emergency Medicine residency training programs with functional e-mail addresses listed in the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine residency catalog.