Emergency Medicine News and Research

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A shifting model of care for older patients

The New York Times reports on an emerging approach that allows many elderly patients to stay in their homes and still receive the medical care and social services the usually would get in a nursing home.

24 Feb 2012

BWH researchers publish findings that question reliability of new CMS quality measure

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have published findings that question the reliability of a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quality measure.

24 Feb 2012

UMMS' iHeal project uses emerging technologies to detect drug cravings and intervene

Clinical researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) are combining an innovative constellation of technologies such as artificial intelligence, smartphone programming, biosensors and wireless connectivity to develop a device designed to detect physiological stressors associated with drug cravings and respond with user-tailored behavioral interventions that prevent substance use.

22 Feb 2012

Nation's top hospitals for emergency medical care

A report released today by HealthGrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make an informed decision about a physician or hospital, identified the nation's top performing hospital for emergency medical care. The analysis also found large differences in the risk adjusted mortality rates for patients admitted through the Emergency Department, both by hospital and by market area.

21 Feb 2012

Midazolam autoinjector pen more effective in treating status epilepticus

Results have just been released from an NIH study conducted at multiple sites, including the University of Kentucky, indicating that an autoinjector pen is a faster and possibly more effective way for emergency medical personnel to treat serious seizures.

17 Feb 2012

Intramuscular midazolam effective in treating status epilepticus

Drug delivery directly into muscle using an autoinjector is faster and may be more effective in stopping prolonged seizures, according to a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by a Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher.

17 Feb 2012

UCSD opens lidocaine and amiodarone clinical trial to prevent SCA

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in the United States. This form of heart attack kills 325,000 people every year, representing one death every two minutes. Almost all SCA victims die before they even reach a hospital. To identify a drug that paramedics can use in the field, UC San Diego Health System has opened a clinical trial to evaluate two medications to help restore the heart beat.

15 Feb 2012

State roundup: Fraud crackdowns, searching for more doctors, immigrant health care

Illinois Democrats running state government have waited more than a year to win federal approval for a new plan to fight fraud in the health program for 2.7 million of the state's poorest residents. Facing increasing Republican pressure to put reforms in place, this week Quinn's team told the Obama administration that Illinois will wait no longer.

13 Feb 2012

RI Hospital to study treatment that may prevent post-traumatic OA

Rhode Island Hospital has received a grant of $2.2 million from the United States Department of Defense to support a research study on a treatment that may prevent post-traumatic osteoarthritis, a common condition in men and women who suffer joint injuries to the knee and hip.

10 Feb 2012

Now on stands - Inhaled caffeine

A Harvard professor has come up with a device that helps people inhale their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube. Critics say the novel product, called “AeroShot,” is not without its risks. The product went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and is also available in France. A single unit costs $2.99 at convenience, mom-and-pop, liquor and online stores.

9 Feb 2012

Emergency time reduced by 4 hours could save 80 lives a year: Study

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6 Feb 2012

No significant difference between safety-net, non-safety-net hospitals in emergency patient's length of stay

Time can be important in an emergency department especially in a busy Level 1 Trauma Center like MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, when getting patients appropriate care is essential. However, when the quality of an emergency department is judged by a patient's length of stay, time takes on a new meaning.

1 Feb 2012

HealthHelp's Emergency Medicine Program to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure

Approximately one-third of all high-tech imaging performed in the United States proves medically unnecessary. Specialty benefits management provider HealthHelp announced today the launch of a new program designed to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure and to promote cost-effective treatment planning for the best possible outcome.

31 Jan 2012

Stronger laws need to encourage child booster seat use when carpooling

Most parents report that they typically require their child to use a life-saving booster seat, but more than 30 percent said they do not enforce this rule when their child is riding with another driver.

30 Jan 2012

New simulation-based customer service training program for emergency department staff

A new training program for emergency department staff at Rhode Island Hospital teaches communication skills by having staff take part in simulations of real patient experiences. The goal is to improve the patient experience by standardizing both team and patient communication in an emergency department setting.

30 Jan 2012

Elderly patients more likely to develop respiratory or gastrointestinal infections after ED visits

Elderly patients who have visited an emergency department (ED) are three times more likely to develop respiratory or gastrointestinal infections in the week following their return to a long-term care facility, such as a Centre d'H-bergement de Soins de Longue Dur-e.

24 Jan 2012

More people suffering serious injury or death while wearing headphones

A latest US study shows that more people are suffering serious injury or death while wearing headphones. The number has tripled in six years.

17 Jan 2012

Pedestrian injuries and deaths from headphone use on the rise

Listen up, pedestrians wearing headphones. Can you hear the trains or cars around you? Many probably can't, especially young adult males. Serious injuries to pedestrians listening to headphones have more than tripled in six years, according to new research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

16 Jan 2012

Two emergency medicine physicians create weapon against lethal war injury

Two emergency medicine physicians with wartime experience have developed a weapon against one rapidly lethal war injury.

12 Jan 2012

$Patients with hip fractures should be operated on within 48 hours of admission$

Patients with hip fractures should be operated on within 48 hours of admission

All patients with hip fractures should be fast-tracked through hospital emergency departments and operated on within 48 hours of admission, according to new consensus guidelines developed by UK experts in anaesthesia, orthopaedics, geriatrics and emergency medicine and published in the January issue of Anaesthesia.

12 Jan 2012