Educator's blueprint: A how-to guide for creating high-quality slides.

Didactics are the primary modality in which educators disseminate knowledge. The accompanying slides are a critical element, which can enhance or distract from the corresponding presentation. This Educator's Blueprint provides 10 strategies for creating high-quality presentation slides.

"Cold feet": A qualitative study of medical students who seriously considered emergency medicine but chose another specialty.

Introduction: Emergency medicine (EM) has historically been among the most competitive specialties in the United States. However, in 2022 and 2023, 219 of 2921 and 554 of 3010 respective National Resident Matching Program positions were initially unfilled. Medical students' selection of a medical specialty is a complex process.

Oh, the places you'll go! A qualitative study of resident career decisions in emergency medicine.

Objectives: Postresidency career choices are complex decisions that involve personal, professional, and financial preferences and may be influenced by training programs. It is unknown how residents navigate these decisions during emergency medicine (EM) residency. We explored EM residents' perspectives on career decision making and how residency programs can support career planning.

Early emergency department discharge for intermediate heart score patients presenting for chest pain.

Study Objective: The use of the HEART score to risk stratify patients for short-term major adverse cardiac events in the emergency department (ED) setting is well established. Although discharge to home for low-risk HEART score patients is widely accepted as safe practice, there are limited outcomes data on moderate-risk HEART score patients discharged to home. We investigated the safety of discharging moderate-risk HEART score patients to home from the ED with established early cardiology follow-up.

How do current police practices impact trauma care in the prehospital setting? A scoping review.

Objective: In the United States, police are often important co-responders to 911 calls with emergency medical services for medical emergencies. To date, there remains a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which police response modifies time to in-hospital medical care for traumatically injured patients. Further, it remains unclear if differentials exist within or between communities.

Federated data health networks hold potential for accelerating emergency research.

Multi-center research networks often supported by centralized data centers are integral in generating high-quality evidence needed to address the gaps in emergency care. However, there are substantial costs to maintain high-functioning data centers. A novel distributed or federated data health networks (FDHN) approach has been used recently to overcome the shortcomings of centralized data approaches.

Impact of COVID-19 on the associated complications of high-risk conditions in a statewide pediatric emergency network.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the volume and epidemiology of pediatric emergency department (ED) visits. We aimed to determine the rate of associated complications for 16 high-risk conditions in a Michigan statewide network of academic and community EDs during the pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of pediatric ED visits among a network of 5 Michigan health systems during the pre-pandemic (March 1, 2019-March 10, 2020) and pandemic (March 11, 2020-March 31, 2021) periods.

Procedural task trainer gaps in emergency medicine: A rift in the simulation universe.

Objectives: We identified and quantified the gap between emergency medicine (EM) procedures currently taught using simulation versus those that educators would teach if they had better procedural task trainers. Additionally, we endeavored to describe which procedures were taught using homemade models and the barriers to creation and use of additional homemade models.

Methods: Using a modified Delphi process, we developed a survey and distributed it to a convenience sample of EM simulationists via the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Simulation Academy listserv.

Emergency department length of stay and outcomes of emergency department-based intensive care unit patients.

Objective: Emergency department (ED) boarding of patients who are critically ill is associated with poor outcomes. ED-based intensive care units (ED-ICUs) may mitigate the risks of ED boarding. We sought to analyze the impact of ED length of stay (LOS) before transfer to an ED-ICU on patient outcomes.

Integrating self-assessment into feedback for emergency medicine residents.

Background: In 2013 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced "Milestones" designed to nationally standardize the assessment of resident physicians. Previous studies compare resident self-assessment on milestones to faculty assessment, with varying degrees of agreement, but integration of self-assessment into the formative feedback process has not yet been directly studied. This study uses a conceptual framework of self-determination theory, integrated with concepts from adult learning theory, to compare the perception of the feedback quality given in semiannual reviews before and after the incorporation of resident self-assessment into the feedback process.

Geographic mobility in the emergency medicine residency match and the influence of gender.

Objectives: Women are underrepresented in emergency medicine (EM) leadership. Some evidence suggests that geographic mobility improves career advancement. We compared movement between medical school and residency by gender.

Developing an electronic health record-derived health equity dashboard to improve learner access to data and metrics.

Objectives: It is essential to engage learners in efforts aimed at dismantling racism and other contributors to health care disparities. Barriers to their involvement include limited access to data. The objective of our study was to create a data dashboard using an existing quality improvement (QI) infrastructure and provide resident access to data to facilitate exploratory analysis on disparities in emergency department (ED) patient care.

Leveling the field: Development of reliable scoring rubrics for quantitative and qualitative medical education research abstracts.

Background: Research abstracts are submitted for presentation at scientific conferences; however, criteria for judging abstracts are variable. We sought to develop two rigorous abstract scoring rubrics for education research submissions reporting (1) quantitative data and (2) qualitative data and then to collect validity evidence to support score interpretation.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi method to achieve expert consensus for scoring rubric items to optimize content validity.

Medical student experiences of applying into emergency medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-institutional survey of emergency medicine-bound medical students.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic added new and great uncertainty to the typical approach to applying into emergency medicine (EM) for medical students. There are little data on students' lived experience of applying during this time period. We performed a multi-institutional survey of EM-bound students' experiences with preparing to apply into EM during the pandemic.

Tongue protrusion as the presenting symptom of parapharyngeal abscess.

Deep neck space infections are commonly seen in the pediatric population. The diagnosis, however, can be challenging to make and requires a high degree of suspicion because of developmental and age-related factors in children and non-specific presenting symptoms. Diagnosis becomes further complicated in patients whose comorbid conditions mask some of the more severe systemic symptoms.

Delivery of end-of-life care in an emergency department-based intensive care unit.

Objective: Intensive care unit (ICU) admissions near the end of life have been associated with worse quality of life and burdensome costs. Patients may not benefit from ICU admission if appropriate end-of-life care can be delivered elsewhere. The objective of this study was to descriptively analyze patients receiving end-of-life care in an emergency department (ED)-based ICU (ED-ICU).

A proposal for selective resuscitation of adult cardiac arrest patients in a pandemic.

Allocation of limited resources in pandemics begs for ethical guidance. The issue of ventilator allocation in pandemics has been reviewed by many medical ethicists, but as localities activate crisis standards of care, and health care workers are infected from patient exposure, the decision to pursue cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) must also be examined to better balance the increased risks to healthcare personnel with the very low resuscitation rates of patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A crisis standard of care that is equitable, transparent, and mindful of both human and physical resources will lessen the impact on society in this era of COVID-19.