Top 10 Most Read Posts of 2020

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As 2020 comes to an end, we look forward to recognizing the year’s top 10 articles! Join me in congratulating this amazing group of authors at all levels of training and from across the United States!

Additionally, I would like to thank each of the AAEM/RSA Modern Resident Blog authors, reviewers, mentors, and editorial staff members for their tireless contributions to the blog. Without all of them, the blog would not be what it is today. Thanks for a successful 2020!

We are currently accepting articles for 2021 and are always looking for additional faculty mentors as well. Feel free to contact us at info@aaemrsa.org with questions.

Sincerely,

Alex Gregory, MD
Editor-in-Chief
AAEM/RSA Modern Resident Blog

Platelet-Lymphocyte Ratio and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio: Updates in Prognosticating Fournier Gangrene in the Emergency Department

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This post was peer reviewed.
Click to learn more.

Authors: Alessandra Della Porta, EMT-B, MSIIIUniversity of Miami School of Medicine

Kasha Bornstein, Msc Pharm, EMT-P, MSIV
AAEM/RSA Modern Resident Blog Copy Editor
University of Miami School of Medicine

Bottom Line Up Front:
Fournier gangrene (FG) is a necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI) associated with high mortality rates, particularly when it is not suspected early, or interventions are initiated late in the course. Diagnosis is clinical and challenged by overlap with more superficial skin infections (i.e. cellulitis) and the need for thorough examination of the genital region. Imaging and laboratory analysis are not able to consistently rule out FG. While risk calculators exist, they are also limited in their utility for ruling out severity of illness. This brief article discusses use of the monocyte-lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-lymphocyte ratio; recently innovated, simple, and effective biomarkers for prognosticating NSTIs. 

Optimizing Medical Surge Capacity

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This post was peer reviewed.
Click to learn more.

Authors: Mary Unanyan, OMS-I
Gregory Jasani, MD; AAEM/RSA Secretary Treasurer

The coronavirus pandemic has caused many to wonder whether our nation’s healthcare system can properly treat all of the projected critically ill patients. Experts worry that the sudden increase in sick patients may overwhelm existing healthcare resources. One way to determine how well hospitals are able to respond to this pandemic is to look at the “surge capacity” of the health system.

Medical surge capacity is a measure of the ability of a health system to manage care for a sudden increased volume of patients beyond the normal operating capacity.¹ 

 

The Gender Gap in Medical Leadership: Glass Ceiling, Domestic Tethers, or Both?

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Authors: Eveline Hitti, MD MBA FAAEM

Lisa A. Moreno, MD MS MSCR FAAEM FIFEM

Originally published: Common Sense
May/June 2017

The number of women enrolled in medical schools has risen from less than 25% in the 1970s to over 47% today.^1,2 In spite of this, we continue to see striking under-representation of women in leadership positions in academic medicine, professional organizations, and health services in general. Women comprise only 38% of full-time faculty, 21% of full professors, and 30% of new tenures in academic medicine. Only 18% of hospital CEOs are women, and the percentage of female department chairs and deans at US medical schools remains low, at 15% and 16% respectively.^2,3 This leadership gap is not unique to medicine. It mirrors trends in law, where women continue to constitute a disproportionate minority of partners within firms; and business, where women are less likely than men to hold corporate executive positions. In the past this discrepancy could be explained by a higher percentage of male medical and professional school graduates. Yet today, when the percentage of females in medical school, law school, and business school equals or exceeds the percentage of males, a significant leadership gap persists.

From Chaos to Clarity: Leadership in the Resuscitation Bay

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Author: Mary Haas, MD
Originally published: Common Sense
November/December 2016

You are managing a busy emergency department, when you hear via the overhead paging system that a new patient has arrived in your resuscitation bay. You scurry from the farthest corner of your department, where you were evaluating a patient with multiple chronic medical problems and multiple complaints. As you book it to the resuscitation bay, you carry the weight of several sick patients you are managing and the knowledge of several on stretchers waiting to be seen, not to mention the full waiting room. You arrive at the resuscitation bay, where a group of people are bustling around as if a storm is about to hit. You see the ambulance pull up to the doorway with lights flashing. In this moment, as leader of the resuscitation, you have the responsibility to transform chaos into clarity.