Increasing Solid Organ Donation: A Role for Emergency Physicians.

BACKGROUND: More than 100,000 Americans with failing organs await transplantation, mostly from dead donors. Yet only a fraction of patients declared dead by neurological criteria (DNC) become organ donors. DISCUSSION: Emergency physicians (EPs) can improve solid organ donation in the following ways: providing perimortem critical care support to potential organ donors, promptly notifying organ procurement organizations (OPOs), asking neurocritical care specialists to evaluate selected emergency department patients for death based on established neurologic criteria, participating in research to advance these developments, implementing automatic OPO notification technologies, and educating the professional and lay communities about organ donation and transplantation, including exploration of opt-out (presumed consent) organ recovery policies. CONCLUSION: With future improvements in organ preservation and DNC assessment, EPs may become even more involved in the donation process. EPs should support and engage in efforts to promote organ donation and transplantation.

Civility in Health Care: A Moral Imperative.

Civility is an essential feature of health care, as it is in so many other areas of human interaction. The article examines the meaning of civility, reviews its origins, and provides reasons for its moral significance in health care. It describes common types of uncivil behavior by health care professionals, patients, and visitors in hospitals and other health care settings, and it suggests strategies to prevent and respond to uncivil behavior, including institutional codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures. The article concludes that uncivil behavior toward health care professionals, patients, and others subverts the moral goals of health care and is therefore unacceptable. Civility is a basic professional duty that health care professionals should embrace, model, and teach.

Impact of pre-transplant depression on outcomes of allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the impact of depression before autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) on clinical outcomes post-transplantation. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research to compare outcomes after autologous (n = 3786) or allogeneic (n = 7433) HCT for adult patients with hematologic malignancies with an existing diagnosis of pre-HCT depression requiring treatment versus those without pre-HCT depression. Using Cox regression models, we compared overall survival (OS) between patients with or without depression. We compared the number of days alive and out of the hospital in the first 100 days post-HCT using Poisson models. We also compared the incidence of grade 2-4 acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in allogeneic HCT. RESULTS: The study included 1116 (15%) patients with pre-transplant depression and 6317 (85%) without depression who underwent allogeneic HCT between 2008 and 2012. Pre-transplant depression was associated with lower OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-1.23; P = 0.004) and a higher incidence of grade 2-4 acute GVHD (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.14-1.37; P < 0.0001), but similar incidence of chronic GVHD. Pre-transplant depression was associated with fewer days-alive-and-out-of-the hospital (means ratio [MR] = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.99; P = 0.004). There were 512 (13.5%) patients with Pre-transplant depression and 3274 (86.5%) without depression who underwent autologous HCT. Pre-transplant depression in autologous HCT was not associated with OS (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.98-1.34; P = 0.096) but was associated with fewer days alive and out of the hospital (MR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97-0.99; P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Pre-transplant depression was associated with lower OS and higher risk of acute GVHD among allogeneic HCT recipients and fewer days alive and out of the hospital during the first 100 days after autologous and allogeneic HCT. Patients with pre-transplant depression represent a population that is at risk for post-transplant complications. Cancer 2017;123:1828-1838. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Race and ethnicity influences collection of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized peripheral blood progenitor cells from unrelated donors, a Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research analysis.

Little information exists on the effect of race and ethnicity on collection of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) for allogeneic transplantation. We studied 10,776 donors from the National Marrow Donor Program who underwent PBSC collection from 2006 to 2012. Self-reported donor race/ethnic information included Caucasian, Hispanic, Black/African American (AA), Asian/Pacific Islander (API), and Native American (NA). All donors were mobilized with subcutaneous filgrastim at an approximate dose of 10 µg/kg/day for 5 days. Overall, AA donors had the highest median yields of mononuclear cells per liter and CD34(+) cells per liter of blood processed (3.1 × 10(9) and 44 × 10(6), respectively), whereas Caucasians had the lowest median yields at 2.8 × 10(9) and 33.7 × 10(6), respectively. Multivariate analysis of CD34(+) per liter mobilization yields using Caucasians as the comparator and controlling for age, gender, body mass index, and year of apheresis revealed increased yields in overweight and obese AA and API donors. In Hispanic donors, only male obese donors had higher CD34(+) per liter mobilization yields compared with Caucasian donors. No differences in CD34(+) per liter yields were seen between Caucasian and NA donors. Characterization of these differences may allow optimization of mobilization regimens to allow enhancement of mobilization yields without compromising donor safety.

Analysis of the Effect of Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Center Size on Unrelated National Marrow Donor Program Donor Outcomes: Donor Toxicities Are More Common at Low-Volume Bone Marrow Collection Centers.

Previous studies have shown that risks of collection-related pain and symptoms are associated with sex, body mass index, and age in unrelated donors undergoing collection at National Marrow Donor Program centers. We hypothesized that other important factors (race, socioeconomic status [SES], and number of procedures at the collection center) might affect symptoms in donors. We assessed outcomes in 2726 bone marrow (BM) and 6768 peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donors collected between 2004 and 2009. Pain/symptoms are reported as maximum levels over mobilization and collection (PBSC) or within 2 days of collection (BM) and at 1 week after collection. For PBSC donors, race and center volumes were not associated with differences in pain/symptoms at any time. PBSC donors with high SES levels reported higher maximum symptom levels 1 week after donation (P = .017). For BM donors, black males reported significantly higher levels of pain (OR, 1.90; CI, 1.14 to 3.19; P = .015). No differences were noted by SES group. BM donors from low-volume centers reported more toxicity (OR, 2.09; CI, 1.26 to 3.46; P = .006). In conclusion, race and SES have a minimal effect on donation-associated symptoms. However, donors from centers performing ≤ 1 BM collection every 2 months have more symptoms after BM donation. Approaches should be developed by registries and low-volume centers to address this issue.

Ethical controversies surrounding the management of potential organ donors in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: On a daily basis, emergency physicians are confronted by patients with devastating neurological injuries and insults. Some of these patients, despite our best efforts, will not survive. However, from these tragedies, there may be benefit given to others who are awaiting organ transplantation. Steps taken in the emergency department (ED) can be critical to preserving the option of organ donation in patients whose neurologic insult places them on a potential path to declaration of brain death. Much of the literature on this subject has focused on the utilitarian value of clinical interventions in the potential organ donor to optimize the likelihood of effective organ procurement. CASE PRESENTATION: In this article, we present an actual case that reveals additional ethical perspectives to consider in how emergency physicians manage patients in the ED who can be confidently predicted to progress to death, as attested by neurologic criteria, and become organ donors. The case involves a patient with a devastating, nonsurvivable intracerebral hemorrhage who rapidly progressed to hemodynamic instability. DISCUSSION: This case reveals how the current organ donor referral and maintenance system raises ethical tensions for emergency physicians and ED personnel. CONCLUSION: This process imposes limitations on communication with patient surrogate decision-makers while calling for interventions with the primary purpose of benefiting off-site patients awaiting transplantation.

Trends in volumes and survival after hematopoietic cell transplantation in racial/ethnic minorities.

ABSTRACT: There has been an increase in volume as well as an improvement in overall survival (OS) after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for hematologic disorders. It is unknown if these changes have affected racial/ethnic minorities equally. In this observational study from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research of 79 904 autologous (auto) and 65 662 allogeneic (allo) HCTs, we examined the volume and rates of change of autoHCT and alloHCT over time and trends in OS in 4 racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic African Americans (NHAAs), and Hispanics across 5 2-year cohorts from 2009 to 2018. Rates of change were compared using Poisson model. Adjusted and unadjusted Cox proportional hazards models examined trends in mortality in the 4 racial/ethnic groups over 5 study time periods. The rates of increase in volume were significantly higher for Hispanics and NHAAs vs NHW for both autoHCT and alloHCT. Adjusted overall mortality after autoHCT was comparable across all racial/ethnic groups. NHAA adults (hazard ratio [HR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.22; P = .004) and pediatric patients (HR 1.62; 95% CI 1.3-2.03; P < .001) had a higher risk of mortality after alloHCT than NHWs. Improvement in OS over time was seen in all 4 groups after both autoHCT and alloHCT. Our study shows the rate of change for the use of autoHCT and alloHCT is higher in NHAAs and Hispanics than in NHWs. Survival after autoHCT and alloHCT improved over time; however, NHAAs have worse OS after alloHCT, which has persisted. Continued efforts are needed to mitigate disparities for patients requiring alloHCT.

Gifts to physicians from industry: the debate evolves.

In October 2009, the board of directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) approved a major revision to ACEP's "Gifts to Emergency Physicians from Industry" policy. The revised policy is a response to increasing debate and calls for restriction of the long-standing biomedical industry practice of giving promotional gifts to individual physicians. This article outlines the history of professional attention to gift giving and reviews recent contributions to the ongoing debate over its justifiability, including professional association recommendations for limitation or prohibition of the practice. The article concludes with a description of the provisions of the revised ACEP gifts policy and brief reflection on the future of this practice.

The Impact of Pre-Apheresis Health Related Quality of Life on Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cell Yield and Donor's Health and Outcome: Secondary Analysis of Patient-Reported Outcome Data from the RDSafe and BMT CTN 0201 Clinical Trials.

There is a lack of evidence about how health-related quality of life (HRQoL), including psychosocial factors, might affect donation-related experiences and clinical markers in the context of hematopoietic stem cell donation. The broader literature suggests that psychological factors, including anxiety and depression, are associated with higher levels of inflammatory burden leading to poorer postprocedural outcomes including longer hospital stays and increased pain perception. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether predonation HRQoL markers predict toxicity profile and stem cell yield after peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation in healthy donors. The study population comprised adult granulocyte colony-stimulating factor mobilized PBSC-related donors (RD) (n = 157) and unrelated donors (URD) (n = 179) enrolled in the related donor safety study (RDSafe) and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) 0201 clinical trials. Pre-donation HRQoL was assessed using the Short-Form-12 (SF-12) in RDSafe and SF-8 questionnaire in BMT CTN 0201 (higher score is better). The aims of this study were to (a) determine the impact of pre-donation HRQoL on peri-collection pain and acute toxicities experienced and (b) to investigate the pre-procedural HRQoL indicators on stem cells yield. URDs were younger than RDs (median age 35 versus 63). A higher proportion of RDs were female (50% versus 40%) and obese (41% versus 35%). A higher proportion of RD PBSC donations required 2 days or more of apheresis (44% versus 21%). More RD collections were lower volume procedures (<18L, 16% versus 28%), and required a central line (28% versus 11%). RDs were more likely to report pre-donation grade 1-2 pain (27% versus 8%) and other toxicities (16% versus 6%). Among RDs, a lower pre-donation physical component summary (PCS) score was associated with significantly more grade 2-4 pain at 1 month (P = .004) and at 1-year after donation (P = .0099) in univariable analyses. In multivariable analysis, pre-donation PCS remained significantly associated with grade 2-4 pain 1 month after donation (P = .0098). More specifically, RDs with predonation PCS scores in the highest quartile were less likely to report pain compared with donors with PCS scores in the lowest quartile (odds ratio 0.1; 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.83; P = .005). There was also a trend toward higher grade 2-4 pain at 1-year post-donation among RDs with lower predonation PCS score (P = .018). Among URDs, neither PCS nor mental component summary (MCS) scores were associated with pain or toxicities at any time point after donation based on the univariable analysis. Because of low rates of postdonation grade 2-4 pain and toxicities, multivariable analysis was not performed in the URD setting. Moreover, there was no correlation between preapheresis HRQoL score (PCS or MCS) and PBSC collection yield in either the RD or URD setting. Our study demonstrates that pre-donation HRQoL scores are significantly associated with the toxicity profile after PBSC donation in the RD setting, with adult RDs with lower predonation physical HRQoL experiencing higher levels of pain at 1 month and persisting up to 12 months after a PBSC collection procedure. There were no such associations found in URD. Our findings can help clinicians identify donors at higher risk of pain with donation, and lead to personalized information and interventions for specific donors. Lack of correlation between predonation HRQoL and stem cell yield may be due to a small sample size and warrants further evaluation.

Emergency Medicine Physicians Would Prefer Using Cannabis Over Opioids for First-Line Treatment of a Medical Condition if Provided With Medical Evidence: A National Survey.

OBJECTIVE:  To determine emergency medicine (EM) physicians' preferences for using medical cannabis versus opioids if medical cannabis was legalized. METHODS: We surveyed US physicians at the largest national EM conference (American College of Emergency Physicians' Annual Conference) held in San Diego, CA from October 1 to 4, 2018. Of the thousands of conference participants approached, 539 US physicians completed the anonymous written survey, which represented 15.2% of the US physicians attending the conference. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 39.6 ± 10.9 years, men composed 57.5% of the participants, and whites made up 72.8% of the respondents. Participants practicing in medically legal (54.8%) and medically plus adult-use legal cannabis states (23.1%) totaled 77.9%. A majority (70.7%) of the participants believed that cannabis has medical value. EM physicians preferred cannabis over opioids as a first-line treatment addressing a medical condition provided that medical studies found that cannabis was equally effective (p < 0.001, X 2 = 36.8 [95% CI 2, 415]), and overwhelmingly preferred cannabis over opioids if it were more effective (p < 0.001, X 2 = 90.8 [95% CI 2, 415]). Physicians appeared to prefer opioids over cannabis if medical studies found that cannabis was less effective though it was not significant (p > 0.05). Subgroup analyses showed that belief in the medical value of cannabis significantly increased the odds ratio of choosing cannabis over opioids if cannabis was equally or more effective than opioids. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that EM physicians believe cannabis has medical value and would prefer using cannabis over opioids if provided with equivalent findings. We believe our findings reflect EM physicians' experience of the opioid epidemic and suggest the need for further study of this potential therapeutic.

The emergency department care of the cannabis and synthetic cannabinoid patient: a narrative review.

BACKGROUND: Cannabis is the most prevalent illegal drug used and the second most common cause of ED drug-related complaints in the USA. Recently, newer more potent strains, concentrated THC products, and consumption methods have become available. OBJECTIVE: Our first objective was to define cannabis use in the USA and provide a summary background on its current preparations, pharmacokinetics, vital sign and physical exam findings, adverse effects, and laboratory testing. Our second objective, using the aforementioned summary as relevant background information, was to present and summarize the care and treatment of the most commonly reported cannabis-related topics relevant to ED physicians. METHODS: We first performed an extensive literature search of peer-reviewed publications using New PubMed and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify the most commonly reported cannabis-related topics in emergency care. Once the six topic areas were identified, we undertook an extensive narrative literature review for each section of this paper using New PubMed and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from the inception of the databases to September 30, 2020. RESULTS: The six subject areas that were most frequently reported in the medical literature relevant to cannabis-related ED care were acute intoxication/overdose, pediatric exposure, cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, cannabis withdrawal, e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), and synthetic cannabinoids. CONCLUSION: As cannabis becomes more widely available with the adoption of state medical cannabis laws, ED-related cannabis visits will likely rise. While cannabis has historically been considered a relatively safe drug, increased legal and illegal access to newer formulations of higher potency products and consumption methods have altered the management and approach to ED patient care and forced physicians to become more vigilant about recognizing and treating some new cannabis-related life-threatening conditions.

Observed behaviors of subjects during informed consent for an emergency department study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine emergency department patients' behaviors during informed consent for an intimate partner violence survey. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study during administration of informed consent. Research assistants recorded whether informed consent was read, time spent reading it, whether questions were asked, and whether the patients took a copy of the form that was handed to them. Results are reported as percentage of frequency of occurrence. RESULTS: Of 1,609 patients approached for the intimate partner violence study, 1,312 (82%) patients participated. After verbal description of the study, 53% of patients read the informed consent but only 13% spent more than 2 minutes doing so. Only 20% of patients asked questions and less than half (49%) accepted a copy of the form when it was handed to them. CONCLUSION: Patients who participated in an intimate partner violence study did not spend a lot of time reading the consent document, asked few questions, and did not take the copy of the consent form with them. Future studies of the current consent process should determine whether it provides adequate human subjects protections in a manner desired by the patient.

Prescription use and survival among nonagenarians presenting to the ED.

To characterize prescription medication use and survival effect among nonagenarians with an emergency department (ED) visit, we performed a retrospective chart review for all nonagenarians presenting to the ED in 2002. Data were collected on medication number and category and on survival after discharge. At admission, patients were taking no medications (3.2%), 1 to 4 medications (35%), 5 to 9 medications (51.9%), or at least 10 medications (9.9%); the median number increased by 2 at discharge (P < .001). Among 565 patients dismissed, 6-month survival was 77.8% and 1-year survival was 65.6%. Patients discharged with prescriptions for opioids or other analgesics were more likely to die within 12 months than those discharged without these medications. Patients taking aspirin had a 40% lower mortality compared with those not taking aspirin (P = .004). Patients discharged with medication in other categories had no excess mortality.

The Impact of Medical Cannabis on Intermittent and Chronic Opioid Users with Back Pain: How Cannabis Diminished Prescription Opioid Usage.

Objective: To determine if cannabis may be used as an alternative or adjunct treatment for intermittent and chronic prescription opioid users. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: A single-center cannabis medical practice site in California. Patients: A total of 180 patients who had a chief complaint of low back pain were identified (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, code M54.5). Sixty-one patients who used prescription opioids were analyzed. Interventions: Cannabis recommendations were provided to patients as a way to mitigate their low back pain. Outcome Measures: Number of patients who stopped opioids and change in morphine equivalents. Results: There were no between-group differences based on demographic, experiential, or attitudinal variables. We found that 50.8% were able to stop all opioid usage, which took a median of 6.4 years (IQR=1.75-11 years) after excluding two patients who transitioned off opioids by utilizing opioid agonists. For those 29 patients (47.5%) who did not stop opioids, 9 (31%) were able to reduce opioid use, 3 (10%) held the same baseline, and 17 (59%) increased their usage. Forty-eight percent of patients subjectively felt like cannabis helped them mitigate their opioid intake but this sentiment did not predict who actually stopped opioid usage. There were no variables that predicted who stopped opioids, except that those who used higher doses of cannabis were more likely to stop, which suggests that some patients might be able to stop opioids by using cannabis, particularly those who are dosed at higher levels. Conclusions: In this long-term observational study, cannabis use worked as an alternative to prescription opioids in just over half of patients with low back pain and as an adjunct to diminish use in some chronic opioid users.

Assessing psychiatric safety in suicidal emergency department patients.

We provide a review of the assessment of suicidal emergency department patients and includes a legal and ethical perspective. Screening tools and psychiatric consultation are important adjuncts to the ED evaluation of potentially suicidal patients. Suicide risk should be assessed, and if positive, an appropriate and safe disposition should be arranged. The aim of this article is to review these assessment tools and consider ethical issues, such as patient autonomy, accountability of the emergency physician, and consultant to Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) as well as confidentiality, privacy, and social issues.

Emergency department crowding, part 1--concept, causes, and moral consequences.

Crowding is an increasingly common occurrence in hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) across the globe. This 2-article series offers an ethical and policy analysis of ED crowding. Part 1 begins with a discussion of terms used to describe this situation and proposes that the term "crowding" be preferred to "overcrowding." The article discusses definitions, measures, and causes of ED crowding and concludes that the inability to transfer emergency patients to inpatient beds and resultant boarding of admitted patients in the ED are among the root causes of ED crowding. Finally, the article identifies and describes a variety of adverse moral consequences of ED crowding, including increased risks of harm to patients, delays in providing needed care, compromised privacy and confidentiality, impaired communication, and diminished access to care. Part 2 of the series examines barriers to resolving the problem of ED crowding and strategies proposed to overcome those barriers.

Emergency department crowding, part 2--barriers to reform and strategies to overcome them.

Part 1 of this 2-article series reviews serious moral problems created by emergency department (ED) crowding. In this second part of the series, we identify and describe operational and financial barriers to resolving the crisis of ED crowding, along with a variety of institutional and public policy strategies proposed or implemented to overcome those barriers. Finally, the article evaluates 2 additional actions designed to address the problem of ED crowding, namely, distribution of a warning statement to ED patients and implementation of a "reverse triage" system for safe early discharge of hospital inpatients.