Development, Implementation, and Assessment of a New Competency and Outcomes-Based Orientation in an Air Medical Transport Program.

OBJECTIVE: The development and evaluation of new employees in air medical transport has historically lacked standardization and competency-based learning goals. Here we discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of a new competency-based education and evaluation method at Geisinger's Life Flight air medical transport service. METHODS: Using Bloom's taxonomy of learning, 14 competencies for flight employees were identified. An electronic database was created to track progress across competencies and serve as an information repository for the identification of goals and the development of individualized learning plans. Ten months after implementation of the new method, 11 preceptors and education team members were surveyed to understand their views on the new program. RESULTS: At the time of survey administration, 20 orientees had completed orientation under the new education and evaluation program in an average of 6.45 weeks, with a range of 3 to 10 weeks. Of the 11 surveyed instructors, 81.1% definitely agree that the new method adequately assesses performance compared with 45.5% with the previous unstandardized method; 81.8% of the instructors rated the overall change as very helpful. CONCLUSION: The adoption of a competency-based learning model for air medical transport employee education and evaluation improves the assessment of performance and allows for the development of customized learning plans.

Hospitals as disaster victims: Lessons not learned?

OBJECTIVE: Hospitals are a key component to disaster response but are susceptible to the effects of disasters as well, including infrastructure damage that disrupts patient care. These events offer an opportunity for evaluation and improvement of preparedness and response efforts when hospitals are affected directly by a disaster. The objective of this structured review was to evaluate the existing literature on hospitals as disaster victims. METHODS: A structured and scoping review of peer-reviewed literature, gray literature, and news reports related to hospitals as disaster victims was completed to identify and analyze themes and lessons observed from disasters in which hospitals are victims, to aid in future emergency operations planning and disaster response. RESULTS: The literature search and secondary search of referenes identified 366 records in English. A variety of common barriers to successful disaster response include loss of power, water, heating and ventilation, communications, health information technology, staffing, supplies, safety and security, and structural and non-structural damage. CONCLUSIONS: There are common weaknesses in disaster preparedness that we can learn from and account for in future planning with the aim of improving resilience in the face of future disasters.

Ventricular Fibrillation Cardiac Arrest in Young Female from Diffuse Left Anterior Descending Coronary Vasospasm.

This is a case of the most severe and potentially fatal complication of coronary artery vasospasm. We report a case of a 40-year-old female presenting to the emergency department (ED) via emergency medical services with chest pain. The patient experienced a ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest while in the ED. Post-defibrillation electrocardiogram showed changes suggestive of an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Cardiac catheterization showed severe left anterior descending spasm with no evidence of disease. Coronary vasospasm is a consideration in the differential causes of ventricular fibrillation and STEMI seen in the ED.

Special Populations: Disaster Care Considerations in Chronically Ill, Pregnant, and Morbidly Obese Patients.

Special populations, which include the morbidly obese and patients with chronic, complex medical conditions that require long-term health care services and infrastructure, are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality when these services are disrupted during a disaster. Past experiences have identified significant challenges in restoring necessary care services to these patients following major environmental events. This article describes the impact of disasters on special populations, provides a framework for future disaster preparation and planning, and identifies areas in need of further research. Gravid patients, who are often overlooked in disaster planning and preparation, are also discussed.

Two Rare Cases of Appendicitis: Amyand's Hernia and De Garengeot's Hernia.

An Amyand's hernia is an inguinal hernia that contains vermiform appendix. De Garengeot's hernias are similar; however, in this case the appendix is within a femoral hernia. Both types of hernia are rare, and those hernias associated with appendicitis, perforation, or abscess are even scarcer presentations. The treatment of Amyand's hernia and De Garengeot's hernia is not standardized. Generally, hernia repair is performed but disagreement remains regarding the use of mesh and performing appendectomy. This case series describes two individuals with appendicitis presenting to one emergency department within a 24-hour time frame. One case is of a patient with Amyand's hernia and another case is a patient with De Garengeot's hernia with an adjacent abscess. Both individuals were managed with appendectomy and hernia repair without the use of mesh.

Spontaneous Isolated Visceral Artery Dissection in a Middle Aged Male.

Epigastric pain is a common complaint made by patients being evaluated in the emergency department. Spontaneous isolated visceral artery dissection is a rare cause with no reported prevalence. We present a case of a 37-year-old male evaluated in the emergency department for epigastric pain and subsequently diagnosed with a spontaneous isolated celiac artery dissection with involvement of the hepatic and splenic arteries. Recent case series suggest this disease may be managed medically in most cases. Surgical intervention may be considered for significant bleeding or signs of intestinal ischemia.

A Rare Central Nervous System Fungal Infection Resulting from Brown Heroin Use.

BACKGROUND: Fungal nervous system infection can be a difficult diagnosis to make, due to the fact that there are no specific manifestations of the disease and laboratory confirmation is difficult to confirm. CASE REPORT: We report a young male who presented to our emergency department with a variety of unilateral visual field complaints. While he initially denied recent IV drug abuse, his physical examination was highly suggestive of a fungal infection known to result from brown heroin use. He was ultimately diagnosed with meningitis, ventriculitis, and endogenous endophthalmitis believed to result from a Candida species. The response to treatment with vitrectomy and broad-spectrum antimicrobials gave support to the presumed diagnosis. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: We provide a rarely described report of a possible complication from the use of IV brown heroin that led to a central nervous system infection involving vision loss by fungal infection.

Glasgow Coma Scale Motor Component ("Patient Does Not Follow Commands") Performs Similarly to Total Glasgow Coma Scale in Predicting Severe Injury in Trauma Patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Trauma victims are frequently triaged to a trauma center according to the patient's calculated Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score despite its known inconsistencies. The substitution of a simpler binary assessment of GCS-motor (GCS-m) score less than 6 (ie, "patient does not follow commands") would simplify field triage. We compare total GCS score to this binary assessment for predicting trauma outcomes. METHODS: This retrospective analysis of a statewide trauma registry includes records from 393,877 patients from 1999 to 2013. Patients with initial GCS score less than or equal to 13 were compared with those with GCS-m score less than 6 for outcomes of Injury Severity Score (ISS) greater than 15, ISS greater than 24, death, ICU admission, need for surgery, or need for craniotomy. We judged a priori that differences less than 5% lack clinical importance. RESULTS: The relative differences between GCS and GCS-m scores less than 6 were less than 5% and thus clinically unimportant for all outcomes tested, even when statistically significant. For the 6 outcomes, the differences in areas under receiver operating characteristic curves ranged from 0.014 to 0.048. Total GCS score less than or equal to 13 was slightly more sensitive (difference 3.3%; 95% confidence interval 3.2% to 3.4%) and slightly less specific (difference -1.5%; 95% confidence interval -1.6% to -1.5%) than GCS-m score less than 6 for predicting ISS greater than 15, with similar overall accuracy (74.1% versus 74.2%). CONCLUSION: Replacement of the total GCS score with a simple binary decision point of GCS-m score less than 6, or a patient who "does not follow commands," predicts serious injury, as well as the total GCS score, and would simplify out-of-hospital trauma triage.

Resuscitation of a Pediatric Drowning in Hypothermic Cardiac Arrest.

The prognosis of pediatric patients who require prolonged resuscitation after ice water drowning and hypothermic cardiac arrest remains guarded. We report a case of successful prolonged resuscitation of a pediatric patient in hypothermic cardiac arrest who showed severe metabolic derangements and went on to make a rapid and full neurologic recovery without the use of extracoproreal rewarming or mechanical cardiac support. Many ground and air medical emergency medical service programs have policies against interfacility transfer of patients in hypothermic cardiac arrest, calling into question the need to revise current protocols.

Occurrence and impact of intracranial pressure elevation during treatment of severe intraventricular hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVES: Elevated intracranial pressure is one of the proposed mechanisms leading to poor outcomes in patients with intraventricular hemorrhage. We sought to characterize the occurrence and significance of intracranial hypertension in severe intraventricular hemorrhage requiring extraventricular drainage. DESIGN: Prospective analysis from two randomized, multicenter, clinical trials. SETTING: Intensive care units of 23 academic hospitals. PATIENTS: One hundred patients with obstructive intraventricular hemorrhage and intracerebral hemorrhage volume <30 mL requiring emergency extraventricular drainage from two randomized multicenter studies comparing intraventricular recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (n=78) to placebo (n=22). INTERVENTIONS: Intracranial pressure was recorded every 4 hrs in all patients and before and after a 1-hr extraventricular drainage closure period after injection. Intracranial pressure readings were analyzed at predefined thresholds and compared between treatment groups, before and after injection of study agent, and before and after opening of third and fourth ventricles on computed tomography. Impact on 30-day outcomes was assessed. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Initial intracranial pressure ranged from -2 to 60 mm Hg (median; interquartile range, 11;10). Of 2576 intracranial pressure readings, 91.5% (2359) were ≤20 mm Hg, 1.6% were >30, 0.5% were >40, and 0.2% were >50 mm Hg. In a multivariate analysis, threshold events>20 mm Hg and >30 mm Hg were more frequent in placebo vs. recombinant tissue plasminogen activator-treated groups (p=.03 and p=.08, respectively). Intracranial pressure elevation>20 mm Hg occurred during a required 1-hr extraventricular drainage closure interval in 207 of 868 (23.8%) injections of study agent, although early reopening of the extraventricular drainage only occurred in 7.9%. After radiographic opening of the lower ventricular system, intracranial pressure events>20 mm Hg remained significantly associated with initial intraventricular hemorrhage volume (p=.002) and extraventricular drainage placement ipsilateral to the largest intraventricular hemorrhage volume (p=.001), but not with thrombolytic treatment (p=.05) or intracerebral hemorrhage volume (p=.14). Ventriculoperitoneal shunts were required in 13.6% of placebo and 6.4% of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator-treated patients (p=.37). Percentage of intracranial pressure readings per patient>30 mm Hg and initial intracerebral hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage volumes were independent predictors of 30-day mortality after adjustment for other outcome predictors (p=.003, p=.03, and p<.001, respectively). Independent predictors of poor modified Rankin Scale score at 30 days were percent of intracranial pressure events>30 mm Hg per patient (p=.01; but not >20 mm Hg), both intracerebral hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage volume, and pulse pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Intracranial pressure is not frequently elevated during monitoring and drainage with an extraventricular drainage in patients with severe intraventricular hemorrhage, although intracranial pressure >30 mm Hg predicts higher short-term mortality. Thrombolytic therapy may reduce the frequency of high intracranial pressure events. Intracranial pressure elevation appears to be significantly correlated with extraventricular drainage placement in the ventricle with greatest clot volume.

Drainage efficiency with dual versus single catheters in severe intraventricular hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the efficacy of single versus dual extraventricular drain (EVD) use in intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), with and without thrombolytic therapy. METHODS: Post-hoc analysis of seven patients with dual bilateral EVDs from two multicenter trials involving 100 patients with IVH, and spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) volume <30 ml requiring emergency external ventricular drainage. Seven "control" patients with single catheters were matched by IVH volume and distribution and treatment assignment. Head CT scans were obtained daily during intraventricular injections for quantitative determination of IVH volume. RESULTS: Median [min-max] age of the 14 subjects was 56 [40-73] years. Median duration of EVD was 7.9 days (single catheter group) versus 12.2 days (dual catheter group) (P = 0.34). Baseline median IVH volume was not significantly different between groups (75.4 ml [22.4-105.1]--single EVD vs. 84.5 ml [42.0-132.0]--dual EVD; P = 0.28). Comparing the change in IVH volume on time-matched CT scans during dual EVD use, the median decrease in IVH volume in dual catheter patients was significantly larger (52.1 [31.7-81.1] ml) versus single catheter patients (34.5 [13.1-73.9] ml) (P = 0.004). There was a trend to greater decrease in IVH volume during dual EVD use in both rt-PA (P = 0.9) and placebo-treated (P = 0.11) subgroups. CONCLUSION: The decision to place dual EVDs is generally reserved for large IVH (>40 ml) with casting and mass effect. The use of dual simultaneous catheters may increase clot resolution with or without adjunctive thrombolytic therapy.

Ventricular catheter location and the clearance of intraventricular hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: There is no consensus regarding optimal position of an external ventricular drain (EVD) with regard to clearance of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). OBJECTIVE: To assess the hypothesis that EVD laterality may influence the clearance of blood from the ventricular system with and without administration of thrombolytic agent. METHODS: The EVD location was assessed in 100 patients in 2 Clot Lysis Evaluating Accelerated Resolution of Intraventricular Hemorrhage (CLEAR IVH) phase II trials assessing the safety and dose optimization of thrombolysis through the EVD to accelerate the clearance of obstructive IVH. Laterality of catheter was correlated with clearance rates. RESULTS: Clearance of IVH over the first 3 days was significantly greater when thrombolytic compared with placebo was administered regardless of catheter laterality (P < .005; 95% confidence interval, -14.0 to -4.14 for contralateral EVD and -24.7 to -5.44 for ipsilateral EVD). When thrombolytic was administered, there was a trend toward more rapid clearance of total IVH through an EVD placed on the side of dominant intraventricular blood compared with an EVD on the side with less blood (P = .09; 95% confidence interval, -9.62 to 0.69). This was not true when placebo was administered. Clearance of third and fourth ventricular blood was unrelated to EVD laterality. CONCLUSION: It is possible that placement of EVD may be optimized to enhance the clearance of total IVH if lytic agents are used. Catheters on either side can clear the third and fourth ventricles with equal efficiency.