Faculty hero: Dr. Stacey Poznanski
As part of a series on Faculty Heroes, I wanted to highlight Dr. Stacey Poznanski (Director of EM Undergraduate Education and Assistant Professor of EM at Wright State University), who has done amazing things in EM. Most recently I had the pleasure of co-presenting at the 2013 International EM Teaching Course with Stacey at our Powerpoint Resuscitation workshop. The following are some of her thoughtful words of wisdom for those interested in EM, education, and academics. [+]
ALiEM Journal Club Question 4: Reimbursement Tied to Diagnosis
For the ALiEM – Annals of EM global journal club on the article “Emergency Department Computed Tomography Utilization in the United States and Canada”, discuss question number 4 on the topic of reimbursements tied to diagnosis: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed instituting a new process metric OP 15 “Use of Brain CT in the Emergency Department of Atraumatic Headache.” OP 15 measures the percentage of ED visits for atraumatic headache (ie, ED billing codes for tension, cluster, migraine, and nonspecific headaches) among Medicare beneficiaries who have a brain CT performed on the same day. ED patients [+]
ALiEM Journal Club Question 3: Malpractice and CT Use
For the ALiEM – Annals of EM global journal club on the article “Emergency Department Computed Tomography Utilization in the United States and Canada”, discuss question number 3 on the topic of malpractice and CT use: Discuss some of the important differences between the current health care systems and medical malpractice environments in Canada and the United States. How might these differences affect CT use in the emergency department (ED)? How might the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the US affect these differences? [+]
ALiEM Journal Club Question 2: Estimation of CT Counts
For the ALiEM – Annals of EM global journal club on the article “Emergency Department Computed Tomography Utilization in the United States and Canada”, discuss question number 2 on the topic of estimation on CT counts: Do you think the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) method is likely to overcount or undercount CTs? What about the method used for calculating use in Ontario? Would these biases likely make the authors’ estimate of the overall difference between these countries too large or too small? Defend your answer. [+]
ALiEM Journal Club Question 1: Bias
For the ALiEM – Annals of EM global journal club on the article “Emergency Department Computed Tomography Utilization in the United States and Canada”, discuss question number 1 on the topic of bias: The authors use distinct methods for tallying computed tomography (CT) use in the 2 countries. List the biases that could occur in counting CTs by each method. [+]
Inaugural Global EM Journal Club – hosted by ALiEM and Annals of EM
CT imaging is a powerful tool in diagnosing pathological medical conditions. Despite this, there is appropriate concern about the “magnitude of imaging-related financial costs and radiation induced malignancies.” In this month’s Annals of Emergency Medicine journal publication, Berdachl et al published about “Emergency Department Computed Tomography Utilization in the United States and Canada.” This article was selected by the journal as the featured piece for a Journal Club discussion. In this inaugural global EM journal club, ALiEM and Annals are collaborating to provide a more dynamic discussion of some of the posed questions. The focus is on teaching concepts around HOW to [+]
NEWS FLASH: ALiEM and Annals EM are hosting a Global Journal Club
In an unprecedented collaborative effort to accelerate knowledge translation and education, ALiEM is officially partnering with Annals of Emergency Medicine. Together we will be hosting a global Journal Club discussion on ALiEM using the journal club questions posed in the journal’s journal club questions. Here’s how YOU and your colleagues can participate… [+]
All Benzodiazepines are Metabolized by the Liver
We sometimes hear information stated as fact that may not be entirely accurate. One such example is, “I’m going to use lorazepam because it isn’t metabolized by the liver.” Let’s set the record straight. ALL benzodiazepines are metabolized by the liver. [+]
52 Articles in 52 Weeks: Landmark EM Articles 2013
To provide a resource for evidence-based Emergency Medical education, this list of must-read landmark articles was created to supplement the Emergency Medicine (EM) internship year of training. There are 52 articles so that one article can be read at leisure each week of the year. I searched national databases and polled faculty at the University of Washington to identify articles that faculty would expect any EM resident to be familiar with or that they felt were practice-changing in EM. Articles were selected for the final list based on the quality of study design, sample size, and relevance for EM residents. [+]
Thyroid Storm: Treatment Strategies
The Case You have a 54-year-old female who presents to the emergency department with a chief complaint of “just feeling out of it.” She has felt “off and on” for the past 12 hours and has had an occasional cough with some sputum production along with “the shakes and chills.” She also feels as if her heart was “going at a mile a minute” and because of this, she is very much out of breath. [+]