Emergency Medicine Commons^™

A Module Based Method Of Teaching A Novel Approach To Electrocardiogram Interpretation, Emily Fishbein, Alexandra Koutsoubis, Jennifer White, Md, Dimitrios Papanagnou, Md

Phase 1

Purpose: The traditional approach to 12-lead electrocardiogram interpretation has limitations in the ED setting because it is tedious and does not emphasize pattern recognition for potentially fatal conditions that ED physicians must recognize. Additionally, while lecture-based learning is necessary, learning modules can help learners gain a better understanding of the material. The purpose of this study was to create and implement a self-paced learning module that teaches a novel way of ECG interpretation through the following steps: is it sinus? is it wide? is there ischemia? and does this herald sudden death?

Methods: The objective endpoint of this study was …

Examining Israeli Emergency Medical Preparedness In The Context Of Jefferson And Affiliates Practices, Jamie D. Garden, Amit S. Padaki

Phase 1

Introduction: Recent domestic disasters have demonstrated the challenges and vulnerabilities in the US health care disaster preparedness framework, challenges that extend to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital System (TJUH), in Philadelphia, PA. As Israel serves as a global leader in civilian defense and disaster preparedness, this study examines best practices in response to a mass casualty event at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, and compares them with existing protocol at TJUH. The list of best practices generated from this research allows for a greater understanding of standards that are feasibly employable at TJUH.

Methods: This study examined hospital staff response practices …

Utility Of Point Of Care Ultrasound For Identifying Dental Abscesses In Emergency Department Patients Presenting With Dental Pain, Matthew Cervantes, Kelly Goodsell, Md, Arthur Au, Md

Phase 1

Introduction: Computed tomography (CT) is the current gold standard for diagnosing dental abscesses in the Emergency Department (ED). There are limitations to using CT, including high cost, radiation exposure, and lengthy time to diagnosis. Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is an alternative imaging modality that does not have these limitations, and is already used to diagnose other soft tissue abscesses. The efficacy of POCUS for diagnosing suspected dental abscesses has never been investigated. The purpose of this project is to compare the utility of POCUS to CT in diagnosing suspected dental abscesses in the ED.

Methods: A convenience …

Marijuana Use And Mental Health Among Emergency Department Patients, Megan Hanna

Scholarship in Medicine - All Papers

Background: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. with an increasing number of users in recent years.

Objective: This study was undertaken to identify common reasons for marijuana use and any relationship between its use and mental health among Emergency Department (ED) patients. Methods: A total of 303 ED patients participated from the Miami Valley Hospital Emergency Department. Eligible participants included those with any marijuana use. Subjects were administered a survey which identified age of first use, reasons for use, and presence of anxiety and depression …

The Verbal Numeric Pain Scale: Ed Patient Understanding And Perspectives, Bracey Bayonnet

Scholarship in Medicine - All Papers

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify patient self-reported pain scores and understanding and perspectives of the Verbal Numeric Pain Scale. Methods: In this prospective survey study, eligible participants were interviewed by research assistants. Data collected included ED patients self-reported pain scores, previous painful experiences, and their understanding of the Verbal Numeric Pain Scale,

Results: Among 164 participants (92% response rate), the mean triage pain score was 6.4 (95% CI 6.0-6.9). Many participants had experienced significant painful experiences in the past, including major surgery (N = 113), broken bone (N = 102), childbirth (N = 89) and kidney …

Development Of A Hert Trained Interprofessional Student Decontamination Team For Hospital Mass Casualty Response, Ashley Wong, Claire Zurlo, Edward Jasper

Phase 1

Introduction: FEMA’s Hospital Emergency Response Training (HERT) prepares healthcare workers to decontaminate patients during a mass casualty incident. This depletes the emergency department (ED) staff when they are needed most though. Developing an interprofessional student composed HERT team to screen and decontaminate affected populations will allow ED staff to handle more medically complex situations during a mass casualty event.

Methods: Likert scale surveys were conducted among ED physicians and nurses at Jefferson Hospital and HERT trained medical and nursing students at Jefferson University. These were to evaluate the training program and ED staff opinions of utilizing a student HERT …

Oncology Hospital At Home: A Retrospective Chart Review Examining Whether Oncology Patients Placed Under Observation Status By The Ed Could Be Managed In The Home Setting, Mary Blumenfeld, Adam Binder, Md, Nathan Handley, Md

Phase 1

Introduction: Hospital at Home (HaH) programs deliver hospital-level care in the home setting rather than in the traditional inpatient unit. In the US, this model of care has focused on the general medicine population, but no such models for adult oncologic care have been described in the literature to date. The current study seeks to identify whether certain diagnoses of patients with cancer admitted to observation status are predictive for early discharge and potentially model diagnoses on which to build a HaH program.

Methods: Electronic medical records were reviewed for 130 adult cancer patients presenting to the Thomas Jefferson …

Refusal Of Care In The Emergency Department: Self-Reported Reasons For Leaving Without Completing Treatment, Brenden Drerup

Scholarship in Medicine - All Papers

Objective: Emergency department (ED) patients may choose to leave prior to physician evaluation, elope during treatment, or leave against medical advice during treatment. This study was performed to identify the reasons why patients left the ED before completing treatment. Methods: This prospective study was conducted at Miami Valley Hospital, an urban level 1 trauma center. This study identified ED patients who left before completing treatment, including those who left without being seen (LWBS), eloped during treatment, or left against medical advice (AMA), from September to December of 2018. This project included a chart review and a prospective patient telephone survey. …

Do Racial Stereotypes Contribute To Medical Misdiagnosis Of Child Abuse? Investigating Tunnel Vision In The Emergency Room, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Kimberly M. Bernstein, Katherine S. Wahrer

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Despite growing recognition that misdiagnoses of child abuse can lead to wrongful convictions, little empirical work has examined how the medical community may contribute to these errors. Previous research has documented the existence and content of stereotypes that associate race with child abuse. The current study examines whether emergency medical professionals rely on this stereotype to fill in gaps in ambiguous cases involving Black children, thereby increasing the potential for misdiagnoses of child abuse. Specifically, we tested whether the race-abuse stereotype led participants to attend to more abuse-related details than infection-related details when an infant patient was Black versus White. …

Global Health Immersive Elective In The Philippines, Lisa Godfrey

Posters

Describes her experiences working at Fabella Memorial NICU and the Philippines General Hospital.

Sepsis Education And Training In Medical School, Shayan Ghiaee, Dimitrios Papanagnou, Md, David F. Gaieski, Md

Phase 1

Purpose: According to the National Institutes of Health, severe sepsis strikes more than one million Americans every year. Despite the extensive research that has gone into creating the different risk stratification tools for sepsis, there is still a fifteen to thirty percent mortality rate among patients diagnosed with sepsis. We believe this is due to a lack of robust education and training of medical students in sepsis identification, and thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the extent of training and education of medical students in the identification and treatment of sepsis.

Methods: This study is aimed at …

Effect Of Epinephrine On Outcomes In Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, Ian Lumsden

Capstone Showcase

Abstract

Introduction

Epinephrine administration during cardiac arrest has been the standard of care for decades. In the United States, epinephrine administration has been recommended by the American Heart Association since the first cardiac arrest guidelines were published in 1974. However, epinephrine use became the standard of care with strong medical rational but with limited data on outcomes. The intent of this research is to review available literature and determine if in (P) an adult population in non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (I) treatment with epinephrine administration (C) compared to cardiac care without the administration of epinephrine (O) results in improved survival …

A Reevaluation Of The Importance Of Timing To Antibiotic Administration In Patients With Sepsis And Septic Shock In The Emergency Department, Melissa Yoon

Capstone Showcase

Sepsis is a life threatening organ dysfunction that is caused by the body’s dysregulated response to an infection. A crucial component of treatment includes intravenous antibiotic administration and is recommended within 1 hour of suspected sepsis. However, research conducted over the past two decades have produced mixed results regarding the relationship between mortality rates and this 1 hour time limit. In light of issues such as increasing antibiotic resistance and limited resources in emergency departments, this study reviewed current literature to critically evaluate the effects of modest delays in antibiotic administration in sepsis and septic shock. The studies suggest that …

Process Factors Affecting Reperfusion Time In Patients Presenting With St-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (Stemi), Richard R. Wall

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract PROCESS FACTORS AFFECTING REPERFUSION TIME IN PATIENTS

PRESENTING WITH ST-SEGMENT ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION (STEMI) By Richard R. Wall MSRS, RT(R)(CT)(CI), RCIS

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2020.

Dissertation Chair: Jeffrey S. Legg Ph.D. Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation Sciences

An ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI) occurs when the blood flow to the myocardium is suddenly and completely blocked causing the myocardium to become ischemic. A STEMI is a life-threatening condition that necessitates emergent medical treatment. Research has shown that longer …

A Module-Based Novel Approach To Electrocardiogram Interpretation For Emergency Medicine Residents, Alexandra Koutsoubis, Emily Fishbein, Jennifer White, Md

Phase 1

Purpose: In the Emergency Department, accurate ECG interpretation is essential as many conduction abnormalities are treatable and can lead to death if inaccurately diagnosed. Learning how to read a 12-lead ECG is part of medical education, taught through the following approach: rate, rhythm, axis. In the ED, this tedious approach doesn’t relay important information that should be garnered from the ECG with accuracy. Currently, resources for residents to improve ECG interpretation skills are limited. The purpose of the study was to design a module that teaches an accurate way of interpreting an ECG, that allows for pragmatic, pattern recognition of …

The Effect Of The Surgery Rotation Sequence On Surgery And Emergency Medicine Nbme Scores, Anna Lin, Gerald Isenberg, Md, Chaiya Laoteppitaks, Md

Phase 1

Purpose: Within a school, the formerly fourth year emergency medicine clerkship was added to the third year curriculum in a sequence with general surgery and surgical subspecialty clerkships. Together, a student can be placed in any permutation of the three clerkships, but a student will take the Surgery and EM NBME exam after the completion of the respective clerkship regardless of the order of clerkships. The purpose of this project was to look to see if there was a significance difference in NBME scores between four different sequences of clerkships and to see if sequence of a third year student’s …

“Trauma To The Eye” – A Low Fidelity Module For Identifying Retrobulbar Hematoma And Practicing Lateral Canthotomy & Cantholysis, Jared Raikin, Dimitrios Papanagnou, Md, Ronald Hall, Md

Phase 1

Purpose: A retrobulbar hematoma (RH) can cause preventable blindness due to damage of the optic nerve. Due to its relative infrequency in the emergency department, Emergency Medecine (EM) residents have limited experience in recognizing and treating a RH. This paper outlines a simulated scenario that was developed to improve EM residents knowledge in diagnosing a RH and performing an emergent lateral canthotomy and cantholysis (LCC).

Methods: This module used a low fidelity task trainer and case vignette created for EM residents to practice recognizing a RH and perfroming a LCC. Participants took an assessment questionnaire before and after the teaching …

A Comparison Of Homemade Phantoms For Ultrasound Guided Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Insertion, Saami Zakaria, Liam Hughes, Lauren Selame, Kelly Kehm, Resa E. Lewiss, Arthur Au, Zachary Risler

Phase 1

Purpose: U/S guided peripheral intravenous catheter (PIV) placement is implemented in many clinical settings. Commercially available U/S phantoms are expensive and difficult to alter from stock. Non-commercial phantoms have been described in published literature without data showing which type is more efficacious. The primary objective of this study was to determine efficacy of various non-commercial phantoms for U/S guided PIV placement, while secondary objectives were to characterize the cost and ease of production.

Methods: This prospective observational study trialed six unique phantom models: 1) Amini ballistics gel model, 2) Morrow ballistics gel model, 3) University of California San Diego (UCSD) …

Pharmacists Improve Door To Needle Times In The Emergency Department, Kevin Phan, Megan Degener

Books, Presentations, Posters, Etc.

No abstract provided.

Stop The Bleed: Preparing Bystanders To Manage Life-Threatening Hemorrhage, Janice Hawkins, Heather Killion, Brandon Sparrer, Lynn Wiles

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] Do you know what to do if you encounter someone with life-threatening bleeding? Accidents can happen at any time, on the road, or in the workplace; It is important to know how to act quickly with the appropriate supplies needed to save a life.