Fewer emergency department alarms is associated with reduced use of medications for acute agitation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patient monitoring systems provide critical information but often produce loud, frequent alarms that worsen patient agitation and stress. This may increase the use of physical and chemical restraints with implications for patient morbidity and autonomy. This study analyzes how augmenting alarm thresholds affects the proportion of alarm-free time and the frequency of medications administered to treat acute agitation. METHODS: Our emergency department's patient monitoring system was modified on June 28, 2022 to increase the tachycardia alarm threshold from 130 to 150 and to remove alarm sounds for several arrhythmias, including bigeminy and premature ventricular beats. A pre-post study was performed lasting 55 days before and 55 days after this intervention. The primary outcome was change in number of daily patient alarms. The secondary outcomes were alarm-free time per day and median number of antipsychotic and benzodiazepine medications administered per day. The safety outcome was the median number of patients transferred daily to the resuscitation area. We used quantile regression to compare outcomes between the pre- and post-intervention period and linear regression to correlate alarm-free time with the number of sedating medications administered. RESULTS: Between the pre- and post-intervention period, the median number of alarms per day decreased from 1332 to 845 (-37%). This was primarily driven by reduced low-priority arrhythmia alarms from 262 to 21 (-92%), while the median daily census was unchanged (33 vs 32). Median hours per day free from alarms increased from 1.0 to 2.4 (difference 1.4, 95% CI 0.8-2.1). The median number of sedating medications administered per day decreased from 14 to 10 (difference - 4, 95% CI -1 to -7) while the number of escalations in level of care to our resuscitation care area did not change significantly. Multivariable linear regression showed a 60-min increase of alarm-free time per day was associated with 0.8 (95% CI 0.1-1.4) fewer administrations of sedating medication while an additional patient on the behavioral health census was associated with 0.5 (95% CI 0.0-1.1) more administrations of sedating medication. CONCLUSION: A reasonable change in alarm parameter settings may increase the time patients and healthcare workers spend in the emergency department without alarm noise, which in this study was associated with fewer doses of sedating medications administered.

Observational study of organisational responses of 17 US hospitals over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has required significant modifications of hospital care. The objective of this study was to examine the operational approaches taken by US hospitals over time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a prospective observational study of 17 geographically diverse US hospitals from February 2020 to February 2021. OUTCOMES AND ANALYSIS: We identified 42 potential pandemic-related strategies and obtained week-to-week data about their use. We calculated descriptive statistics for use of each strategy and plotted percent uptake and weeks used. We assessed the relationship between strategy use and hospital type, geographic region and phase of the pandemic using generalised estimating equations (GEEs), adjusting for weekly county case counts. RESULTS: We found heterogeneity in strategy uptake over time, some of which was associated with geographic region and phase of pandemic. We identified a body of strategies that were both commonly used and sustained over time, for example, limiting staff in COVID-19 rooms and increasing telehealth capacity, as well as those that were rarely used and/or not sustained, for example, increasing hospital bed capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic varied in resource intensity, uptake and duration of use. Such information may be valuable to health systems during the ongoing pandemic and future ones.

CT utilization in evaluation of skin and soft tissue extremity infections in the ED: Retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are commonly diagnosed in the emergency department (ED). While most SSTI are diagnosed with patient history and physical exam alone, ED clinicians may order CT imaging when they suspect more serious or complicated infections. Patients who inject drugs are thought to be at higher risk for complications from SSTI and may undergo CT imaging more frequently. The objective of this study is to characterize CT utilization when evaluating for SSTI in ED patients particularly in patients with intravenous drug use (IVDU), the frequency of significant and actionable findings from CT imaging, and its impact on subsequent management and ED operations. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of encounters involving a diagnosis of SSTI in seven EDs across an integrated health system between October 2019 and October 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to assess overall trends, compare CT utilization frequencies, actionable imaging findings, and surgical intervention between patients who inject drugs and those who do not. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze patient factors associated with higher likelihood of CT imaging. RESULTS: There were 4833 ED encounters with an ICD-10 diagnosis of SSTI during the study period, of which 6% involved a documented history of IVDU and 30% resulted in admission. 7% (315/4833) of patients received CT imaging, and 22% (70/315) of CTs demonstrated evidence of possible deep space or necrotizing infections. Patients with history of IVDU were more likely than patients without IVDU to receive a CT scan (18% vs 6%), have a CT scan with findings suspicious for deep-space or necrotizing infection (4% vs 1%), and undergo surgical drainage in the operating room within 48 h of arrival (5% vs 2%). Male sex, abnormal vital signs, and history of IVDU were each associated with higher likelihood of CT utilization. Encounters involving CT scans had longer median times to ED disposition than those without CT scans, regardless of whether these encounters resulted in admission (9.0 vs 5.5 h), ED observation (5.5 vs 4.1 h), or discharge (6.8 vs 2.9 h). DISCUSSION: ED clinicians ordered CT scans in 7% of encounters when evaluating for SSTI, most frequently in patients with abnormal vital signs or a history of IV drug use. Patients with a history of IVDU had higher rates of CT findings suspicious for deep space infections or necrotizing infections and higher rates of incision and drainage procedures in the OR. While CT scans significantly extended time spent in the ED for patients, this appeared justified by the high rate of actionable findings found on imaging, particularly for patients with a history of IVDU.

Impact of iodinated contrast allergies on emergency department operations.

OBJECTIVES: Adverse reactions to intravenous (IV) iodinated contrast media are classified by the American College of Radiology (ACR) Manual on Contrast Media as either allergic-like (ALR) or physiologic (PR). Premedication may be beneficial for patients who have prior documented mild or moderate ALR. We sought to perform a retrospective analysis of patients who received computed tomography (CT) imaging in our emergency department (ED) to establish whether listing of an iodinated contrast media allergy results in a delay in care, increases the use of non-contrast studies, and to quantify the incidence of listing iodinated contrast allergies which do not necessitate premedication. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of CT scans performed in our academic medical center ED during a 6-month period. There were 12,737 unique patients of whom 454 patients had a listed iodinated contrast allergy. Of these, 106 received IV contrast and were categorized as to whether premedication was necessary. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and operational outcomes. A multivariate linear regression model was used to predict time from order to start (OTS time) of CT imaging while controlling for co-variates. RESULTS: Non-allergic patients underwent contrast-enhanced CT imaging at a significantly higher rate than allergic patients (45.9% vs. 23.3%, p < 0.01). The OTS time for allergic patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT imaging was 360 min and significantly longer than the OTS time for non-allergic patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT imaging (118 min, p < 0.001). Of the 106 allergic patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT imaging, 27 (25.5%) did not meet ACR criteria for necessitating premedication. The average OTS time for these 27 patients was 296 min, significantly longer than the OTS for non-allergic patients (118 min, p < 0.01) and did not differ from the OTS time for the 79 patients who did meet premedication criteria (382 min, p = 0.23). A multivariate linear regression showed that OTS time was significantly longer if a contrast allergy was present (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A chart-documented iodinated contrast allergy resulted in a significant increase in time to obtain a contrast-enhanced CT study. This delay persisted among patients who did not meet ACR criteria for premedication. Appropriately deferring premedication could potentially reduce the ED length-of-stay by over 4 h for these patients.

Development and implementation of a clinical decision support system tool for the evaluation of suspected monkeypox infection.

Monkeypox virus was historically rare outside of West and Central Africa until the current 2022 global outbreak, which has required clinicians to be alert to identify individuals with possible monkeypox, institute isolation, and take appropriate next steps in evaluation and management. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS), which have been shown to improve adherence to clinical guidelines, can support frontline clinicians in applying the most current evaluation and management guidance in the setting of an emerging infectious disease outbreak when those guidelines are evolving over time. Here, we describe the rapid development and implementation of a CDSS tool embedded in the electronic health record to guide frontline clinicians in the diagnostic evaluation of monkeypox infection and triage patients with potential monkeypox infection to individualized infectious disease physician review. We also present data on the initial performance of this tool in a large integrated healthcare system.

Level-loading a health system by transferring emergency department patients to a community hospital: Prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Emergency department boarding and crowding lead to worse patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. OBJECTIVE: We describe the implementation of a program to transfer patients requiring medical admission from an academic emergency department to a community hospital's medical floor and analyze its effects on patient outcomes. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed. Data was collected on patient flow through the transfer program. Patient characteristics, boarding time in the emergency department, and hospital-based outcome measures were compared between patients in the transfer program who were successfully transferred to the community hospital and patients who were admitted to the academic medical center. RESULTS: 79 patients were successfully transferred to the community hospital between November 23, 2020 and August 5, 2021, resulting in 279 bed days in the community hospital. Successfully transferred patients experienced a statistically shorter ED boarding time (5.7 vs. 10.9 h, p < 0.0001), ED length of stay (10.5 vs 16.1 h, p < 0.0001), and hospital length of stay (3.5 vs 5.7 days, p < 0.0001) compared to patients initially referred to the transfer program who were admitted to the academic medical center. There were no reported adverse events during transfer, upgrades to the ICU within 24 h of admission, or inpatient deaths for patients who were transferred. CONCLUSION: We implemented an academic emergency department to partner community hospital transfer program that safely level-loads medical patients in a healthcare system.

COVID-19 Seroprevalence in ED Health Care Professionals Study: A Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: ED health care professionals are at the frontline of evaluation and management of patients with acute, and often undifferentiated, illness. During the initial phase of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, there were concerns that ED health care professionals may have been at increased risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 due to difficulty in early identification of patients. This study assessed the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among ED health care professionals without confirmed history of COVID-19 infection at a quaternary academic medical center. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design. An ED health care professional was deemed eligible if they had worked at least 4 shifts in the adult emergency department from April 1, 2020, through May 31, 2020, were asymptomatic on the day of blood draw, and were not known to have had prior documented COVID-19 infection. The study period was December 17, 2020, to January 27, 2021. Eligible participants completed a questionnaire and had a blood sample drawn. Samples were run on the Roche Cobas Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody assay. RESULTS: Of 103 health care professionals (16 attending physicians, 4 emergency residents, 16 advanced practice professionals, and 67 full-time emergency nurses), only 3 (2.9%; exact 95% CI, 0.6%-8.3%) were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. DISCUSSION: At this quaternary academic medical center, among those who volunteered to take an antibody test, there was a low seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among ED clinicians who were asymptomatic at the time of blood draw and not known to have had prior COVID-19 infection.

Evaluation of a COVID-19 emergency department observation protocol.

OBJECTIVES: Caring for patients with COVID-19 has resulted in a considerable strain on hospital capacity. One strategy to mitigate crowding is the use of ED-based observation units to care for patients who may have otherwise required hospitalization. We sought to create a COVID-19 Observation Protocol for our ED Observation Unit (EDOU) for patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 to allow emergency physicians (EP) to gather more data for or against admission and intervene in a timely manner to prevent clinical deterioration. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study which included all patients who were positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the time of EDOU placement for the primary purpose of monitoring COVID-19 disease. Our institution updated the ED Observation protocol partway into the study period. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize demographics. We assessed for differences in demographics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes between admitted and discharged patients. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess whether meeting criteria for the ED observation protocols predicted disposition. RESULTS: During the time period studied, 120 patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 were placed in the EDOU for the primary purpose of monitoring COVID-19 disease. The admission rate for patients in the EDOU during the study period was 35%. When limited to patients who met criteria for version 1 or version 2 of the protocol, this dropped to 21% and 25% respectively. Adherence to the observation protocol was 62% and 60% during the time of version 1 and version 2 implementation, respectively. Using a multivariate logistic regression, meeting criteria for either version 1 (OR = 3.17, 95% CI 1.34-7.53, p < 0.01) or version 2 (OR = 3.18, 95% CI 1.39-7.30, p < 0.01) of the protocol resulted in a higher likelihood of discharge. There was no difference in EDOU LOS between admitted and discharged patients. CONCLUSION: An ED observation protocol can be successfully created and implemented for COVID-19 which allows the EP to determine which patients warrant hospitalization. Meeting protocol criteria results in an acceptable admission rate.

Impact of Emergency Department Crowding on Discharged Patient Experience.

INTRODUCTION: While emergency department (ED) crowding has deleterious effects on patient care outcomes and operational efficiency, impacts on the experience for patients discharged from the ED are unknown. We aimed to study how patient-reported experience is affected by ED crowding to characterize which factors most impact discharged patient experience. METHODS: This institutional review board-exempt, retrospective, cohort study included all discharged adult ED patients July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021 with at least some response data to the the National Research Corporation Health survey, sent to most patients discharged from our large, academic medical center ED. Our query yielded 9,401 unique encounters for 9,221 patients. Based on responses to the summary question of whether the patient was likely to recommend our ED, patients were categorized as "detractors" (scores 0-6) or "non-detractors" (scores 7-10). We assessed the relationship between census and patient experience by 1) computing percentage of detractors within each care area and assessing for differences in census and boarder burden between detractors and non-detractors, and 2) multivariable logistic regression assessing the relationship between likelihood of being a detractor in terms of the ED census and the patient's last ED care area. A second logistic regression controlled for additional patient- and encounter-specific covariates. RESULTS: Survey response rate was 24.8%. Overall, 13.9% of responders were detractors. There was a significant difference in the average overall ED census for detractors (average 3.70 more patients physically present at the time of arrival, 95% CI 2.33-5.07). In unadjusted multivariable analyses, three lower acuity ED care areas showed statistically significant differences of detractor likelihood with changes in patient census. The overall area under the curve (AUC) for the unadjusted model was 0.594 (CI 0.577-0.610). The adjusted model had higher AUC (0.673, CI 0.657-.690]; P<0.001), with the same three care areas having significant differences in detractor likelihood based on patient census changes. Length of stay (OR 1.71, CI 1.50-1.95), leaving against medical advice/without being seen (OR 5.15, CI 3.84-6.89), and the number of ED care areas a patient visited (OR 1.16, CI 1.01-1.33) was associated with an increase in detractor likelihood. CONCLUSION: Patients arriving to a crowded ED and ultimately discharged are more likely to have negative patient experience. Future studies should characterize which variables most impact patient experience of discharged ED patients.

Mobile app helps trainees manage emergencies at the bedside.

BACKGROUND: Although emergency departments (ED) have standardized guidelines for low-frequency, high-acuity diagnoses, they are not immediately accessible at the bedside, and this can cause anxiety in trainees and delay patient care. This problem is exacerbated during events like COVID-19 that require the rapid creation, iteration, and dissemination of new guidelines. METHODS: Physician innovators used design thinking principles to develop EM Protocols (EMP), a mobile application that clinicians can use to immediately view guidelines, contact consultants (e.g., cath lab activation), and access code-running tools. The project became an institutional high priority, because it helps EM trainees and off-service rotators manage low-frequency, high-acuity emergencies at the point of care, and its COVID-19 guidelines can be rapidly updated and disseminated in real time. RESULTS: This intervention was deployed across two academic medical centers during the COVID-19 surge. Nearly 300 ED clinicians have downloaded EMP, and they have interacted with the app over 5,400 times. It continues to be used regularly, over 12 months after the initial surge. Since the app was received positively, there are efforts to build in additional adult and pediatric guidelines. DISCUSSION: Digital health tools like EMP can serve as invaluable adjuncts for managing acute, life-threatening emergencies at the point of care. They can benefit trainees during normal day-to-day operations as well as scenarios that cause large-scale operational disruptions, such as natural disasters, mass casualty events, and future pandemics.

Help Us Help You: Engaging Emergency Physicians to Identify Organizational Strategies to Reduce Burnout.

INTRODUCTION: Burnout is a major threat to patient care quality and physician career longevity in emergency medicine. We sought to develop and implement a quality improvement process to engage emergency department (ED) faculty in identifying sources of burnout and generating interventions targeted at improving the work environment. METHODS: In this prospective interventional study conducted at a large, urban, academic medical center, we surveyed a 60-person faculty group using the Professional Fulfilment Index (PFI), as well as burnout-relevant questions from the American Medical Association's Mini-Z survey and the Maslach-Leiter framework for organizational burnout, in order to identify organizational sources of burnout. We assessed the relationship between burnout scores and responses to the Maslach-Leiter framework using univariate regression analysis. In a two-hour facilitated session, we shared survey results and led the group in a process using the six Maslach-Leiter domains to develop a rank-ordered list of interventions to reduce burnout in each domain. RESULTS: In total, 47 of 60 faculty (78.3%) completed the survey and 45 faculty (75%) attended the discussion session. Of the 47 survey respondents, 14 (30%) met criteria for moderate to severe burnout. The respondents' answers to the Maslach-Leiter organizational burnout domain questions were significantly correlated with their burnout scores (P <0.001). Session attendees generated 31 potential interventions for process improvement, which were analyzed and thematically organized. Common intervention themes included reducing documentation burden, receiving more positive feedback on patient care, improving ease of obtaining consults, decreasing ED crowding, and increasing intrafaculty social connection. Interventions were subsequently reviewed and scored based on relative importance and feasibility to create a departmental action plan for process improvement. CONCLUSION: Using the Maslach-Leiter organizational burnout framework, in conjunction with a facilitated solution-oriented faculty discussion, led to the creation of a departmental agenda focused on organizational solutions for augmenting professional fulfillment and reducing burnout. We propose that this process can be used by healthcare organizations to engage physicians and others in efforts to improve their work experiences, which in turn is likely also to support the provision of higher quality of care.

Types and Timing of Teaching During Clinical Shifts in an Academic Emergency Department.

OBJECTIVES: Academic emergency physicians must find ways to teach residents, medical students, and advanced practice providers amidst the myriad demands on their time during clinical shifts. In this study, we sought to characterize in detail what types of teaching occurred, how often they occurred, and how attending teaching styles differed at one academic emergency department (ED). METHODS: We conducted this observational study in a large, urban, quaternary care, academic Level I trauma center with an emergency medicine (EM) residency. The on-shift activities of EM attending physicians (attendings) were observed and recorded over 42 hours by a fourth-year EM resident with co-observations by an EM education fellow. Teaching categories were identified, developed iteratively, and validated by the study team. We then characterized the distribution of teaching activities during shifts through the coding of attending activities every 30 seconds during observations. Teaching archetypes were then developed through the synthesis of notes taken during observations. RESULTS: Attendings spent a mean of 25% (standard deviation 7%) of their time engaging in teaching activities during shifts. Of this teaching time 36% consisted of explicit instruction, while the remaining 64% of teaching occurred implicitly through the discussion of cases with learners. The time distribution of on-shift activities varied greatly between attendings, but three archetypes emerged for how attendings coupled patient care and teaching: "in-series"; "in-parallel modeling"; and "in-parallel supervision." CONCLUSIONS: Teaching in this academic ED took many forms, most of which arose organically from patient care. The majority of on-shift teaching occurred through implicit means, rather than explicit instruction. Attendings also spent their time in markedly different ways and embodied distinct teaching archetypes. The impact of this variability on both educational and patient care outcomes warrants further study.

Clinical prediction rule for SARS-CoV-2 infection from 116 U.S. emergency departments 2-22-2021.

OBJECTIVES: Accurate and reliable criteria to rapidly estimate the probability of infection with the novel coronavirus-2 that causes the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) and associated disease (COVID-19) remain an urgent unmet need, especially in emergency care. The objective was to derive and validate a clinical prediction score for SARS-CoV-2 infection that uses simple criteria widely available at the point of care. METHODS: Data came from the registry data from the national REgistry of suspected COVID-19 in EmeRgency care (RECOVER network) comprising 116 hospitals from 25 states in the US. Clinical variables and 30-day outcomes were abstracted from medical records of 19,850 emergency department (ED) patients tested for SARS-CoV-2. The criterion standard for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 required a positive molecular test from a swabbed sample or positive antibody testing within 30 days. The prediction score was derived from a 50% random sample (n = 9,925) using unadjusted analysis of 107 candidate variables as a screening step, followed by stepwise forward logistic regression on 72 variables. RESULTS: Multivariable regression yielded a 13-variable score, which was simplified to a 13-point score: +1 point each for age>50 years, measured temperature>37.5°C, oxygen saturation<95%, Black race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, household contact with known or suspected COVID-19, patient reported history of dry cough, anosmia/dysgeusia, myalgias or fever; and -1 point each for White race, no direct contact with infected person, or smoking. In the validation sample (n = 9,975), the probability from logistic regression score produced an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.79-0.81), and this level of accuracy was retained across patients enrolled from the early spring to summer of 2020. In the simplified score, a score of zero produced a sensitivity of 95.6% (94.8-96.3%), specificity of 20.0% (19.0-21.0%), negative likelihood ratio of 0.22 (0.19-0.26). Increasing points on the simplified score predicted higher probability of infection (e.g., >75% probability with +5 or more points). CONCLUSION: Criteria that are available at the point of care can accurately predict the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These criteria could assist with decisions about isolation and testing at high throughput checkpoints.

Emergency Medicine Residents With Higher Levels of Debt Are Less Likely to Choose Academic Jobs, but There Is a Difference by Gender.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to answer the following question: Does educational debt burden affect decisions by emergency medicine residents about whether to pursue academic versus community medicine jobs directly after residency? METHODS: In this observational study, graduating residents across eight emergency medicine residencies were surveyed concurrent with their in-training examinations over 2 years to assess levels of educational debt and demographic information. Job types chosen by residents upon graduation were obtained from their respective program directors. The impact of debt on type of job chosen was assessed through multivariate logistic regression with demographic controls and program fixed effects, with additional analysis of observed differences by gender. RESULTS: Information was collected on 159 residents from 14 graduating classes across eight programs representing six different states. Residents with higher levels of debt had lower odds of choosing an academic fellowship or faculty position upon graduation (odds ratio [OR] = 0.77, confidence interval [CI] = 0.60 to 0.98). On further analysis, higher debt predicted lower odds of choosing an academic position for men (OR = 0.59, CI = 0.41 to 0.82), but not for women (OR = 1.05, CI = 0.63 to 1.76). CONCLUSIONS: When male emergency medicine residents have higher levels of debt, they are significantly less likely to pursue an academic fellowship or faculty position after residency. This may not be the case for female residents. Results may reflect differences in the factors that affect men and women's decisions about jobs after residency, which merits further study.

The cases not seen: Patterns of emergency department visits and procedures in the era of COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: Prior data suggest Emergency Department (ED) visits for many emergency conditions decreased during the initial COVID-19 surge. However, the pandemic's impact on the wide range of conditions seen in EDs, and the resources required for treating them, has been less studied. We sought to provide a comprehensive analysis of ED visits and associated resource utilization during the initial COVID-19 surge. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis from 5 hospitals in a large health system in Massachusetts, comparing ED encounters from 3/1/2020-4/30/2020 to identical weeks from the prior year. Data collected included demographics, ESI, diagnosis, consultations ordered, bedside procedures, and inpatient procedures within 48 h. We compared raw frequencies between time periods and calculated incidence rate ratios. RESULTS: ED volumes decreased by 30.9% in 2020 compared to 2019. Average acuity of ED presentations increased, while most non-COVID-19 diagnoses decreased. The number and incidence rate of all non-critical care ED procedures decreased, while the occurrence of intubations and central lines increased. Most subspecialty consultations decreased, including to psychiatry, trauma surgery, and cardiology. Most non-elective procedures related to ED encounters also decreased, including craniotomies and appendectomies. CONCLUSION: Our health system experienced decreases in nearly all non-COVID-19 conditions presenting to EDs during the initial phase of the pandemic, including those requiring specialty consultation and urgent inpatient procedures. Findings have implications for both public health and health system planning.

Beyond the Maslach burnout inventory: addressing emergency medicine burnout with Maslach's full theory.

Burnout, a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job, remains a substantial problem for emergency physicians, leading to decreased quality of care and attrition from the workforce. The majority of prior work on burnout in emergency medicine has focused on individualized solutions, which have demonstrated modest efficacy for ameliorating burnout. However, recent studies suggest that burnout in medicine is primarily caused by workplace factors (eg, unmanageable workloads, unreasonable time pressures) and therefore requires solutions at an organizational level. In her decades of research across industries, Christina Maslach identified 6 domains of organizations that can either promote engagement or lead to burnout. In this article, we apply Maslach's 6 domains to emergency medicine to provide a systematic framework for alleviating burnout and promoting engagement among emergency physicians. By considering the domains of workload, reward, control, fairness, community, and value congruence, emergency medicine leaders can develop and deploy more effective interventions aimed at improving the experience and longevity of physicians across our specialty.