Latest Emergency Medicine Research Highlights Cardiology, Patient Safety, Pediatrics and Ultrasound

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leading researchers in emergency medicine will present more than 450 studies during Scientific Assembly, the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians, on October 8^th and 9^th in Denver, Colorado.  Sponsored by the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Research Forum will be held in Mile High Ballroom 1 of the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14^th Street in Denver on October 8^th from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and October 9^th from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100616/DC22034LOGO-d)

Researcher physicians will present their latest findings in emergency medicine research, focusing on topics ranging from pediatrics to geriatrics, including toxicology, pain, injury prevention and public health. To search Research Forum by topic, presenter, title and time, visit: http://tinyurl.com/8kkzz8t.

Each day of the Research Forum will feature a special presentation in room 603 of The Colorado Convention Center:

• At 1 p.m. on Monday, October 8^th, Jesse Pines, MD, FACEP, will offer a state-of-the-art presentation on patient safety and quality.
• At 8 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9^th, Michael Blaivas, MD, FACEP, will offer a state-of-the-art presentation on ultrasound.

Special oral presentations by experts in patient quality and safety research will be moderated by Dr. Pines, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Monday, October 8^th, in room 603.  Special oral presentations by experts in ultrasound research will be moderated by Dr. Blaivas from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9^th in room 603. 

The Research Forum will close with a panel session highlighting some of the most significant research, Cutting Edge: Highlights of Emergency Medicine Research, moderated by Deborah B. Diercks, MD, FACEP, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 9th, in The Colorado Convention Center, room 102.  Panelists for this event include: Jason S. Haukoos, MD, FACEP, Judd E. Hollander, MD, FACEP, Jeffrey A. Kline, MD, FACEP, and Donald M. Yealy, MD, FACEP.

Members of the news media can pre-register until Sept. 24 at http://www.acep.org/uploadedFiles/ACEP/Press_Room/ACEP_releases/NewsMediaRegis.pdf or obtain credentials (and the latest daily news about the conference) in the Media Relations Office located at the Colorado Convention Center in room 602.  An adjoining News Media Workroom is available for use by the press, and has telephones, internet connections (computers not provided) and workspace to conduct interviews.  Members of the media who display Scientific Assembly press credentials have access to all educational sessions, the general session, the Research Forum, and the Exhibit Hall.

Media Relations Office Hours:

For additional information, contact Laura Gore at [email protected] or 800-320-0610, ext. 3008, Mike Baldyga at [email protected] or ext. 3005, Elaine Salter at [email protected] or ext. 3007 or Julie Lloyd at [email protected] or ext. 3010.

ACEP is the national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2012 RESEARCH FORUM ABSTRACTS

OCTOBER 8-9, 2012

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS

MILE HIGH BALLROOM ONE, COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER, DENVER

Monday, October 8, 2012

7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Lightning Oral Presentations

Sage Myers, MD, moderator

Emergency department visits by pediatric patients for poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers (#6)

Presenter: A. Tadros, West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va.

Between 2006 and 2008, 41,000 children visited emergency departments in the U.S. for poisoning by prescription pain medications, sedatives and tranquilizers; more than half were thought to be unintentional.

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Poster presentations

The frequency and cost of redundant laboratory testing for transferred emergency department patients (#31)

Presenter: J. Rogg, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Duplicate testing for patients transferred to the emergency department from another hospital cost $611,333 for a single emergency department receiving 7,484 transferred patients in a year.

A cornstarch-based ultrasound gel alternative for low-resource settings (#39)

Presenter: A. Binkowski, Alameda County Medical Center, Oakland, Calif.

A cheap, home-made gel made from cornstarch and water provided better image detail, resolution and quality than similar images obtained using commercial gel as an ultrasound medium.

Introduction of daily coronary CT angiography reduces the rate of admissions of emergency department patients with chest pain (#61)

Presenter: A. Singer, Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, N.Y.

The introduction of computed tomographic angiography as a screening tool for evaluation of low to intermediate risk chest pain patients reduced hospital admission rates by one-third in two years.

Procedural sedation of infants and children in a general emergency department: can it be done safely? (#68)

Presenter: S. Mace, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio

Pediatric procedural sedation for a wide variety of procedures can be done safely in a general emergency department.

Time of day affects radiographic study in the diagnosis of appendicitis in the pediatric emergency department (#73)

Presenter: D. Mooney, Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, N.J.

The limited availability of ultrasound between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. resulted in much higher rates of CT scans of pediatric patients who came to the emergency department during those hours with appendicitis.

Visits by the elderly to United States emergency departments for alcohol-related disorders (#79)

Presenter: D. Calello, Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, N.J.

Between 2006 and 2008, there were almost three-quarters of a million visits to emergency departments for alcohol-related disorders by the elderly; more than two-third of those patients were admitted to the hospital.

Emergency department visits by adults for poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers (#84)

Presenter: S. Cimino, West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va.

There were more than 430,000 visits to emergency departments in the U.S. between 2006 and 2008 for poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives or tranquilizers; more than one-third were thought to be unintentional.

Changes in diversion rates following the introduction of a reformulated extended release oxycodone product (#93)

Presenter: J. Davis, Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center, Denver, Colo.

A reformulation of OxyContin intended to make it harder to abuse led to a 50 percent decline in the rate of patients diverting OxyContin to people for whom it was not prescribed.

10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Poster presentations

Incidence of self-reported drug allergies in a population identified with drug-seeking behavior (#151)

Presenter: C. Bendas, St. Lukes University Hospital, Bethlehem, Pa.

Of 227 patients identified as drug-seekers, 11.89 percent reported 5 or more drug allergies, the odds of which study authors estimate at one in 10 billion.

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Oral Presentations – Patient Safety and Quality

Jesse Pines, MD, FACEP, moderator

Factors associated with adverse events resulting from physician medical errors in the emergency department: two doctors safer than one (#13)

Presenter: Y. Freund, Groupe Hospitalier Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, France

Lower risk of adverse events for patients in the emergency department was associated with involvement of more than one physician in a patient's care.

2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Poster presentations

Laceration repair using rapid absorbing suture in the emergency department improves resource utilization: saving time and money (#170)

Presenter: J. Phillips, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

The use of rapid, absorbable sutures could save Medicare upwards of $215 million per year.

The incidence of clinical deterioration in patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism – results from the safe pulmonary embolism emergency department discharge (SPEED-D) study (#180)

Presenter: C. Kabrehl, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Just over one-third (36 percent) of patients deteriorate or require a hospital-based intervention in the first 5 days after pulmonary embolism (PE), suggesting that hospitalization may not be beneficial or necessary for most PE patients.

Injury patterns and safety practices of deer hunters in the United States (#184)

Presenter: J. Hafner, Saint Francis Medical Center, Peoria, Ill.

One-third of deer hunters responding to a survey reported sustaining an injury while deer-hunting, most related to falls; few required medical attention.

Emergency department boarding practices for psychiatric and non-psychiatric visits (#202)

Presenter: C. Fee, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.

Psychiatric patients were more likely to be held in the emergency department and held for longer than other, non-psychiatric patients in the emergency department.

A "top five" list for emergency medicine: a pilot to improve the value of emergency care (#207)

Presenter: J. Schuur, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Five tests (including certain CT scans, MRIs and coagulation studies) could potentially be eliminated from the standard practice of emergency medicine without harming patients.

Tuesday, October 8, 2012

Oral presentations – Ultrasound

Michael Blaivas, MD, FACEP, moderator

Central venous catheter location changes and complication rates after the institution of an emergency ultrasound division (#17)

Presenter: T. Tolbert, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The establishment of an emergency ultrasound division was associated with a sharp increase in placement of the central line in internal jugular sites and decrease in placement in subclavian sites and a statistically significant decrease in pneumothorax and arterial puncture rates.

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Poster presentations

Can automatic external defibrillators be used correctly by adults and children with no training? (#245)

Presenter: R. Lev, Scripps Mercy Hospital, San Diego, Calif.

Adults and children can use an automatic external defibrillator with no medical training, but demonstration of correct use would reduce errors.

The incidence of emergency department visits for humerus fractures is decreasing (#265)

Presenter: R. Allegra, Morristown Memorial Hospital, Morristown, N.J.

Fractures of the humerus – one of the long bones in the arm – have declined significantly in patients 60 or older, probably due to the increased use of bisphosphonates and calcium supplements.

Impact of nursing short-staffing and emergency department left-without-being-seen (#271)

Presenter: A. Arthur, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Okla.

When nurse staffing was at less than 90 percent, the rate of patients leaving without being seen was 2.4 times more likely to be high.

The impact of an emergency department mid-track on patient flow (#298)

Presenter: O. Soremekun, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

An emergency department mid-track unit focused on evaluation and treatment of medium acuity patients was associated with a 53 percent decrease in the overall "left without being seen" rate without increasing the number of physician hours or treatment bays.

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Lightning oral presentations

Cardiology and critical care

Brian O'Neil, MD, FACEP, moderator

Comparison of 30-day adverse events following triple rule out versus chest CT with subsequent provocative testing for evaluation of chest pain in the emergency department (#20)

Presenter: K. Sawyer, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Royal Oak, Mich.

Chest pain patients evaluated with a "triple rule out" (coronary computed tomography angiogram and concurrent chest computed tomography) spent much less time in the emergency department than those evaluated with traditional testing (chest computed tomography and stress testing with myocardial perfusion imaging) and had no short-term adverse events.

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Poster presentations

The use of camera phones for the follow-up of soft-tissue injuries after discharge from the emergency department: a feasibility study (#321)

Presenter: J. Jones, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Nearly all patients who used camera phones to take and transmit pictures of their healing wounds took pictures of sufficient quality that physicians could rule out infection based on the image alone.

Difference in traumatic brain injury severity and radiologic findings as a result of fall in various age groups (#326)

Presenter: P. Patel, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

Patients between the ages of 18 and 55 who have a history of falls are at a higher risk of cranial fractures and have worse severity when arriving at the emergency department than older patients with falls.

Effect of high-carbohydrate meals on the rate of ethanol metabolism (#352)

Presenter: J. Jones, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Food increased the rate at which alcohol was eliminated from the blood by 86 percent for up to 4 hours in subjects with acute alcohol intoxication.

The relationship between rising gas prices and bicycle-related traumatic brain injuries in the United States, 1997 – 2009 (#365)

Presenter: M. Mutter, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Bicycle-related traumatic brain injuries requiring emergency care increase significantly as gas prices rise.

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Poster presentations

The association between post-assault physical appearance and behaviors in the emergency department and assault types (#377)

Presenter: J. Mounessa, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Manhasset, N.Y.

Certain behaviors, such as quietness, twisting fingers and reluctance to answer questions, are associated with a sexual assault victim's knowing her assailant and/or having lost consciousness.

Characteristics of patients with dental complaints who visit the emergency department (#379)

Presenter: M. Hughes, McLaren-Greater Lansing, Lansing, Mich.

The majority of patients who visited the ER for dental complaints lacked access to other care, dental insurance or a job, and half said they would be willing to pay $25.00 out of pocket to receive care at a walk-in dental clinic if one existed in their community.

Quantifying the temporal increase in charges for uninsured emergency department service (#437)

Presenter: R. Fritz, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn..

Emergency department charges for three common diagnoses – chest pain, ankle sprain and acute appendicitis – increased by 50 percent, 29 percent and 54 percent, respectively, from 2006 to 2009 for uninsured patients.

SOURCE American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)

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