Calling Back, Checking Up, Finding Out

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Author: Edward Siegel, MD MBA
2014-2015 AAEM/RSA Publications Committee Chair
Originally Published: Common Sense May/June 2014

With the exception of occasional resident research projects, most RSA members are insulated from efforts to improve efficiency, patient satisfaction, and the other dollars-and-cents concerns of running an emergency department (ED) that dog administrators. There is, however, a team in almost every ED that is focused solely on those things. These teams are constantly trying new innovations, methods, and systems to gain efficiency and improve (or reach) profitability.

Our hospital recently initiated a patient call-back system, following in the footsteps of many other EDs nationwide. This system was implemented with several goals in mind, with improved patient care chief among them. Our program is young, but it may interest those looking for ways to improve their own emergency departments.

Consider an Away Elective. Now is Your Chance!

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Author: Teresa M. Ross, MD
2011-2012 AAEM/RSA President
Originally Published: Common Sense March/April 2014

If the only medical world you’ve ever known is the infinite connecting hallways of a classic teaching hospital, you’re not alone. Medical school and residency naturally bring us to these oldies but goodies as the epicenter of our academic and clinical training.

But step away for a while – imagine a world where emergency docs come to work in jeans, know their colleagues (and their families) by name, and can’t count on off-hours, in-house consultants except medicine and pediatrics. There is an exciting world out there beyond formal department conferences and journal-quoting consultants.

World Suicide Prevention Day 2017

September 10, 2017 is World Suicide Prevention Day and the AAEM Resident and Student Association (RSA) is asking everyone to Take 5 to Save Lives! Take 5 to Save Lives is a public awareness campaign started by the National Council for Suicide Prevention in support of World Suicide Prevention Day. The campaign provides prevention-focused tools to help keep yourself and others safe from suicide. What does it mean to Take 5 to Save Lives? Head to www.take5tosavelives.org to learn 5 steps you can take in just 5 minutes. The steps include:

Teen Suicide in the United States: What Every Emergency Physician Should Know

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Authors: Casey Grover, MD; David M. Carreon, MSIV; Michael K. Hole, MSIV
Stanford/Kaiser Emergency Medicine
Originally Published: Modern Resident August/September 2013

A 14-year-old boy is brought to the ED with a wrist laceration. Accident or suicide attempt?

Self-harm is the third leading cause of death in this age category behind violence and motor vehicle accidents.[3] One nationally representative sample suggests 7% of U.S. teens have attempted suicide in the last year, and 2% have made attempts serious enough to require medical attention.[2]

Synthetic Cathinones (“Bath Salts”) and Gerbal Marijuana Alternatives – Resident Journal Review

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Authors: Susan Cheng, MD MPH; Jonathan Yeo, MD; Eli Brown, MD; Allison Regan, MD
Edited by: Michael C. Bond, MD FAAEM and Christopher Doty, MD FAAEM
Originally Published: Common Sense April/May 2012

This resident Journal review focuses on two popular designer drugs that have made their way into the media as well as our emergency departments: synthetic cathinones, also known as “bath salts,” and herbal marijuana alternatives. Due to the relative novelty of these drugs, not much literature or research exists to help ED physicians manage patients who come in with these acute intoxications. The pharmacology, clinical symptoms and management options, as well as a few case reports, will be discussed in this review.