Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Education on Adolescent Sexual Health Care.

OBJECTIVES: Many adolescents use the emergency department as their sole resource for primary care and sexual health care. This provides an opportunity to prevent sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy as well as to educate teenagers about their bodies and sexual health. There is no standard curriculum on sexual health as part of pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowship education. Our goal is to evaluate what is taught in PEM fellowship about adolescent sexual health. METHODS: We administered an anonymous questionnaire to both PEM fellows and program directors (PDs). The questionnaire was distributed through the PEM Program Director Survey Committee. The questionnaire was sent to 88 PDs and 305 fellows total. An introductory email explaining the purpose of the study and a link to the online questionnaire was sent. The questionnaire was created using SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: We achieved a 43% survey response rate from PDs (38 of 88) and a 24% survey response rate from fellows (73 of 305). The PD respondents included 61% females, and almost all (86%) are between ages 35 and 54 years. Seventy-three percent of the fellows are female, and they are all between 25 to 44 years old. There was a great deal of variability in the amount of adolescent sexual health education PDs provide their fellows in the form of lectures and bedside teaching cases. A majority of survey respondents (86% of fellows and 66% of the PDs) agreed that there should be a standard PEM curriculum to teach about adolescent sexual health. More than half (53% of PDs and 56% of fellows) are not satisfied with the number of training opportunities for adolescent sexual health. CONCLUSIONS: We found variability in adolescent sexual health training during PEM fellowship, although fellows and PDs agree that there should be a standardized curriculum. We recommend that the American Board of Pediatrics form a committee to decrease variability in the training of PEM fellows on adolescent sexual health.

The Utility of the Focused Assessment With Sonography in Trauma Examination in Pediatric Blunt Abdominal Trauma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of the Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) examination for diagnosis of intra-abdominal injury (IAI) in children presenting with blunt abdominal trauma. METHODS: We searched medical literature from January 1966 to March 2018 in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science. Prospective studies of POCUS FAST examinations in diagnosing IAI in pediatric trauma were included. Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios (LR) were calculated using a random-effects model (95% confidence interval). Study quality and bias risk were assessed, and test-treatment threshold estimates were performed. RESULTS: Eight prospective studies were included encompassing 2135 patients with a weighted prevalence of IAI of 13.5%. Studies had variable quality, with most at risk for partial and differential verification bias. The results from POCUS FAST examinations for IAI showed a pooled sensitivity of 35%, specificity of 96%, LR+ of 10.84, and LR- of 0.64. A positive POCUS FAST posttest probability for IAI (63%) exceeds the upper limit (57%) of our test-treatment threshold model for computed tomography of the abdomen with contrast. A negative POCUS FAST posttest probability for IAI (9%) does not cross the lower limit (0.23%) of our test-treatment threshold model. CONCLUSIONS: In a hemodynamically stable child presenting with blunt abdominal trauma, a positive POCUS FAST examination result means that IAI is likely, but a negative examination result alone cannot preclude further diagnostic workup for IAI. The need for computed tomography scan may be obviated in a subset of low-risk pediatric blunt abdominal trauma patients presenting with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 14 to 15, a normal abdominal examination result, and a negative POCUS FAST result.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Burnout in Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows.

Burnout among emergency medicine (EM) physicians (57%) is significantly greater than among pediatricians (39%). Pediatric EM (PEM) providers are a unique population in that the majority first complete a pediatric residency and then a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine. We sought to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for burnout in PEM fellows. METHODS: An e-mail survey that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) Health Services Survey was sent to fellows in PEM programs. Anonymous surveys were scored using the MBI subscales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Fellows with scores of moderate to high in both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were considered to have burnout. The data were compared with demographic information, including fellowship year, sex, and relationship status. Participants were also asked to list items in their life they felt were burnout contributors. The burnout rate was reported as a percentage with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), based on the Agresti-Coull method. Associations between categorical variables and burnout were tested with Fisher exact test, alpha = 0.05 (2 tails). RESULTS: Of 463 PEM fellows, 146 responses were received (30% response rate), and 139 surveys were scored. Over half (65%) of the respondents were female. The burnout prevalence of PEM fellows was 30.9% (95% CI, 24%-39%). The burnout rate was significantly (P = 0.002) lower for men (13%) (95% CI, 6%-26%) than for women (39.8%) (95% CI, 30%-50%). Fellows who were single (50%) or divorced (66.7%) had significantly (P = 0.008) higher rates of burnout compared with married (27%) fellows. Current training year was not a significant burnout risk. Major contributors to burnout were work environment (52.5%), academic responsibilities of fellowship (36%), schedule (35.3%), work-life balance (33.8%), and career / occupational stress (33.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric emergency medicine fellows had a 30.9% prevalence of burnout. Risk factors for burnout were similar for PEM fellows and EM physicians. Women were more likely to suffer from burnout, as well as fellows who were single or divorced.

The Effect of Pay-for-Performance Compensation Model Implementation on Vaccination Rate: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pay-for-performance (P4P) is broadly defined as financial incentives to providers for attaining prespecified quality outcomes. Providers, payers, and public officials have worked over the years to develop innovative solutions to rapidly and consistently bring new diagnostic tests and therapies to our patients. P4P has been instituted in various forms over the last 30 years. Vaccines are one of society's greatest public health innovations and vaccination programs provide a unique opportunity for P4P programs. We attempted to investigate the effect of P4P compensation model implementation on the vaccination rate. METHODS: Utilizing a systematic review and meta-analysis approach, we searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to December 2018. RESULTS: Nine articles were included with poor to moderate quality. Improvements in vaccination rates after implementation of P4P were statistically significant in 8 of 9 of studies. However, due to the heterogeneity of the methods used, we could not pool the data. CONCLUSION: The results of this systematic review indicate that the implementation of P4P programs can increase the vaccination rate. In recent times when it has become increasingly more popular not to vaccinate, implementing P4P becomes even more important if it is shown to be an effective tool in increasing vaccination rates.

Serial Sonographic Assessment of Pulmonary Edema in Patients With Hypertensive Acute Heart Failure.

OBJECTIVES: Objective measures of clinical improvement in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine whether repeated lung sonography could semiquantitatively capture changes in pulmonary edema (B-lines) in patients with hypertensive AHF early in the course of treatment. METHODS: We conducted a feasibility study in a cohort of adults with acute onset of dyspnea, severe hypertension in the field or at triage (systolic blood pressure ≥ 180 mm Hg), and a presumptive diagnosis of AHF. Patients underwent repeated dyspnea and lung sonographic assessments using a 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS) and an 8-zone scanning protocol. Lung sonographic assessments were performed at the time of triage, initial VAS improvement, and disposition from the emergency department. Sonographic pulmonary edema was independently scored offline in a randomized and blinded fashion by using a scoring method that accounted for both the sum of discrete B-lines and degree of B-line fusion. RESULTS: Sonographic pulmonary edema scores decreased significantly from initial to final sonographic assessments (P < .001). The median percentage decrease among the 20 included patient encounters was 81% (interquartile range, 55%-91%). Although sonographic pulmonary edema scores correlated with VAS scores (ρ = 0.64; P < .001), the magnitude of the change in these scores did not correlate with each other (ρ = -0.04; P = .89). CONCLUSIONS: Changes in sonographic pulmonary edema can be semiquantitatively measured by serial 8-zone lung sonography using a scoring method that accounts for B-line fusion. Sonographic pulmonary edema improves in patients with hypertensive AHF during the initial hours of treatment.

Characteristics of Real-Time, Non-Critical Incident Debriefing Practices in the Emergency Department.

INTRODUCTION: Benefits of post-simulation debriefings as an educational and feedback tool have been widely accepted for nearly a decade. Real-time, non-critical incident debriefing is similar to post-simulation debriefing; however, data on its practice in academic emergency departments (ED), is limited. Although tools such as TeamSTEPPS® (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) suggest debriefing after complicated medical situations, they do not teach debriefing skills suited to this purpose. Anecdotal evidence suggests that real-time debriefings (or non-critical incident debriefings) do in fact occur in academic EDs;, however, limited research has been performed on this subject. The objective of this study was to characterize real-time, non-critical incident debriefing practices in emergency medicine (EM). METHODS: We conducted this multicenter cross-sectional study of EM attendings and residents at four large, high-volume, academic EM residency programs in New York City. Questionnaire design was based on a Delphi panel and pilot testing with expert panel. We sought a convenience sample from a potential pool of approximately 300 physicians across the four sites with the goal of obtaining >100 responses. The survey was sent electronically to the four residency list-serves with a total of six monthly completion reminder emails. We collected all data electronically and anonymously using SurveyMonkey.com; the data were then entered into and analyzed with Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: The data elucidate various characteristics of current real-time debriefing trends in EM, including its definition, perceived benefits and barriers, as well as the variety of formats of debriefings currently being conducted. CONCLUSION: This survey regarding the practice of real-time, non-critical incident debriefings in four major academic EM programs within New York City sheds light on three major, pertinent points: 1) real-time, non-critical incident debriefing definitely occurs in academic emergency practice; 2) in general, real-time debriefing is perceived to be of some value with respect to education, systems and performance improvement; 3) although it is practiced by clinicians, most report no formal training in actual debriefing techniques. Further study is needed to clarify actual benefits of real-time/non-critical incident debriefing as well as details on potential pitfalls of this practice and recommendations for best practices for use.

Comparative effectiveness of home blood pressure telemonitoring (HBPTM) plus nurse case management versus HBPTM alone among Black and Hispanic stroke survivors: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Black and Hispanic stroke survivors experience higher rates of recurrent stroke than whites. This disparity is partly explained by disproportionately higher rates of uncontrolled hypertension in these populations. Home blood pressure telemonitoring (HBPTM) and nurse case management (NCM) have proven efficacy in addressing the multilevel barriers to blood pressure (BP) control and reducing BP. However, the effectiveness of these interventions has not been evaluated in stroke patients. This study is designed to evaluate the comparative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of these two telehealth interventions in reducing BP and recurrent stroke among high-risk Black and Hispanic stroke survivors with uncontrolled hypertension. METHODS/DESIGN: A total of 450 Black and Hispanic patients with recent nondisabling stroke and uncontrolled hypertension are randomly assigned to one of two 12-month interventions: 1) HBPTM with wireless feedback to primary care providers or 2) HBPTM plus individualized, culturally-tailored, telephone-based NCM. Patients are recruited from stroke centers and primary care practices within the Health and Hospital Corporations (HHC) Network in New York City. Study visits occur at baseline, 6, 12 and 24 months. The primary outcomes are within-patient change in systolic BP at 12 months, and the rate of stroke recurrence at 24 months. The secondary outcome is the comparative cost-effectiveness of the interventions at 12 and 24 months; and exploratory outcomes include changes in stroke risk factors, health behaviors and treatment intensification. Recruitment for the stroke telemonitoring hypertension trial is currently ongoing. DISCUSSION: The combination of two established and effective interventions along with the utilization of health information technology supports the sustainability of the HBPTM + NCM intervention and feasibility of its widespread implementation. Results of this trial will provide strong empirical evidence to inform clinical guidelines for management of stroke in minority stroke survivors with uncontrolled hypertension. If effective among Black and Hispanic stroke survivors, these interventions have the potential to substantially mitigate racial and ethnic disparities in stroke recurrence. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02011685 . Registered 10 December 2013.

What is the utility of the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) exam in penetrating torso trauma?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: A recent Cochrane Review has demonstrated that emergency ultrasonography decreases the amount of computerised tomographic scans in blunt abdominal trauma.13 However, there is no systematic review that has evaluated the utility of the Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma(FAST) exam in penetrating torso trauma. We systematically reviewed the medical literature for the utility of the FAST exam to detect free intraperitoneal blood after penetrating torso trauma. METHODS: We searched PUBMED and EMBASE databases for randomised controlled trials from 1965 through December 2009 using a search strategy derived from the following PICO formulation of our clinical question: PATIENTS: patients (12+ years) sustaining penetrating trauma to the torso. INTERVENTION: FAST exam during their initial trauma workup. Comparator: either local wound exploration (LWE),computerised tomography (CT), diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL), or laparotomy. OUTCOME: intraperitoneal and pericardial free fluid. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed.Qualitative methods were used to summarise the study results. ANALYSIS: Sensitivities and specificities were compared using a Forest Plot (95% CI) calculated by Revman 5 (Review Manager Version 5.0. Copenhagen: The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration,2008) between the FAST exam and definitive diagnostic modalities such as LWE, CT, DPL, or laporotomy. RESULTS: We identified eight observational studies (n=565 patients) that met our selection criteria. The prevalence of a positive FAST exam after penetrating trauma was fairly low ranging from 24.2% to 56.3%.The FAST exam for penetrating trauma is a highly specific (94.1­100.0%), but not very sensitive (28.1­100%) diagnostic modality. CONCLUSION: From the review of the literature, a positive FAST exam has a high incidence of intraabdominal injury and should prompt an exploratory laparotomy. However, a negative initial FAST exam after penetrating trauma should prompt further diagnostic studies such as LWE, CT, DPL, or laparotomy.