Early Emergency Medicine Milestone Assessment for Predicting First-Year Resident Performance.

Introduction: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires emergency medicine (EM) residency training programs to monitor residents' progress using standardized milestones. The first assessment of PGY 1 resident milestones occurs midway through the first year and could miss initial deficiencies. Early assessment of PGY 1 EM resident milestones has potential to identify at-risk residents prior to standard midyear evaluations. We developed an orientation syllabus for PGY 1 residents followed by a milestone assessment. Assessment scores helped predict future milestone scores and American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) In-Training Examination (ITE) scores for PGY 1 residents. Methods: From 2013 to 2020, we developed and implemented Milestone Evaluation Day (MED), a simulation-based day and written exam assessing PGY 1 EM residents during their first month on the 23 ACGME 1.0 milestones. MED stations included a history and physical with verbal presentation, patient simulation, vascular access, wound management, and airway management. MED, Clinical Competency Committee-generated (CCC-generated) milestone, and ABEM ITE scores were averaged and compared utilizing Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: Of 112 PGY 1 EM residents, 110 (98%) were analyzed over an 8-year period. We observed a moderate positive correlation of MED and CCC-generated milestone scores (r = .34, p < .001). There was a nonstatistically significant weak positive correlation of MED and ABEM ITE scores (r = .13, p = .17). Discussion: An early assessment of EM milestones in the PGY 1 year can assist in the prediction of CCC-generated milestone scores for PGY 1 residents.

A feasibility study of the sensitivity of emergency physician Dysphagia screening in acute stroke patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the sensitivity of dysphagia screening by emergency physicians on acute stroke patients. METHODS: To develop a 2-tiered dysphagia screen and performed it on a convenience sample of acute stroke patients. Tier 1 examined voice quality, swallowing complaints, facial asymmetry, and aphasia. Tier 2 involved a water swallow test, with evaluation for swallowing difficulty, voice quality compromise, and pulse oximetry desaturation (>or=2%). We classified patients passing both tiers as "low risk" and compared the screen's sensitivity to a formal assessment by speech language pathologists. To assess reproducibility, we performed 2 consecutive, blinded ED screens on a convenience sample of 32 patients. RESULTS: During 16 months, we enrolled a convenience sample of 103 patients, excluding 19 patients from data analysis for lack of a stroke discharge diagnosis (n=11), an incomplete speech language pathologist evaluation within 24 hours (n=7), or pneumonia on emergency department (ED) chest radiography (n=1). Of the 84 remaining patients, speech language pathologists identified dysphagia in 48. The sensitivity of the ED dysphagia screen was 96% (95% confidence interval [CI] 85% to 99%), with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.08 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.3). Reproducibility testing yielded a kappa for the overall screen result of 0.9 (95% CI 0.9-1.0) and a simple agreement of 97%. CONCLUSION: Preliminary data on the sensitivity and reliability of our ED dysphagia screening tool are promising. The simple screen provides an easy way for emergency physicians to identify acute stroke patients eligible for early oral medications and nutrition. Further validation and refinement of our screen are needed before its widespread adoption.

Intravenous fat emulsion: a potential novel antidote.

Intravenous fat emulsions (IFE) are traditionally used as a component of parenteral nutrition therapy. Recently, IFE was used to resuscitate severe local anesthetic drug toxicity. This review focuses on the potential role of IFE in treatment of toxicity due to local anesthetics and other lipid-soluble drugs. The general properties of IFE, metabolic fate, and associated adverse events are described. Cases of local anesthetic toxicity treated with IFE are presented along with a discussion of the possible antidotal mechanisms. Initial investigations into the antidotal use of IFE for lipophilic central nervous and cardiovascular drug toxicity are also reviewed.