Tactical Emergency Casualty Care and the Art of Practicing Nonmaleficence in Harm's Way.

This exploration of the author's training and experience as a tactical physician underscores the benefits of physicians' work with law enforcement personnel in field-based operations that are ethically complex. The article points in particular to physicians' roles in assessing potential risks and benefits-especially of use of force-to promote community safety.

Explorar la formación y la experiencia del autor como médico táctico hace énfasis en los beneficios del trabajo en conjunto entre los médicos y las fuerzas del orden público en operaciones de campo que tienen complejidad ética. El artículo apunta en particular al rol de los médicos de evaluar potenciales riesgos y beneficios ­especialmente del uso de la fuerza­ para promover la seguridad de la comunidad.

Patient Characteristics and Perspectives of Firearm Safety Discussions in the Emergency Department.

INTRODUCTION: Firearm injury prevention discussions with emergency department (ED) patients provide a unique opportunity to prevent death and injury in high-risk patient groups. Building mutual understanding of safe firearm practices between patients and providers will aid the development of effective interventions. Examining ED patient baseline characteristics, perspectives on healthcare-based safety discussions, and experience with and access to firearms, will allow practitioners to craft more effective messaging and interventions. METHODS: Using an institutional review board-approved cross-sectional survey modified from a validated national instrument, we recruited 625 patients from three large, urban, academically affiliated EDs in the South to assess patient baseline characteristics, perspectives regarding firearms and firearm safety discussions, and prior violence history, as well as firearm access and safety habits. We compared the degree to which patients were open to discussions regarding firearms across a variety of provider types and clinical scenarios between those with and without gun access. RESULTS: Of the 625 patients consented and eligible for the study, 306 had access to firearms. The patients with firearm access were predominantly male, were more likely to have military experience, live in an urban or suburban region, and have experienced prior violence when compared to those without firearm access. Patients with and without gun access view firearm safety discussions with their healthcare provider as acceptable and analogous to other behavioral health interventions (i.e., helmet/seat belt use, alcohol/cigarette use). Patients were also accepting of these firearm safety discussions in many clinical contexts and led by multiple provider types. Of the patients with gun access, storage of each type of firearm was reviewed and the primary reason for ownership was for personal protection across all firearm types. CONCLUSION: Patients in the ED indicate openness to firearm safety discussions delivered by a variety of providers and in diverse clinical scenarios. Healthcare providers engaging firearm owners in appropriate risk-benefit discussions using a trauma-informed approach is a critical next step in research and intervention.

Homelessness Among Patients in a Southeastern Safety Net Emergency Department.

OBJECTIVES: Emergency departments (EDs) are important providers for homeless individuals, providing vital health care and meeting the subsistence needs of many homeless patients (eg, food, water, shelter). Studies that have examined the proportion of patients in the ED setting who experience homelessness have been conducted primarily in the northeastern United States. We hypothesized that findings from prior studies, conducted primarily in the Northeast, would not generalize to other regions of the United States. We conducted a direct patient survey to describe the proportion and demographics of ED patients who have experienced homelessness within the past 12 months in an urban safety net hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of patients presenting to the ED from September to December 2016. A team of trained research assistants administered a structured survey instrument to patients who were 18 years old, English speakers, not incarcerated, and able to provide informed consent. Questions were based on the US Department of Health and Human Services definition of homelessness. RESULTS: A total of 923 ED patients (55.1% male; median age 44 years) completed the survey. Of the ED patients surveyed, 51.5% reported some measure of homelessness in the past 12 months: lived with others but did not pay rent (n = 279, 30.2%), skipped mortgage or rent payment (n = 111, 12%), experienced eviction (n = 74, 8%), lived in a hotel or motel (n = 196, 21.2%), lived in a place not meant for human habitation (n = 76, 8.2%), slept in a shelter (n = 131, 14.2%), and slept on the street (n = 115, 12.5%). Men (odds ratio [OR] 1.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17-2.09), patients who completed some school (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.72-4.71), and patients who completed high school (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.53-3.52) were more likely to have experienced homelessness in the 12 months preceding their ED visit. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of patients experiencing homelessness at our hospital is substantially greater than those reported in prior surveys of ED patients. More research is needed on homelessness and its implications for ED patients.

Human Factors and Simulation in Emergency Medicine.

This consensus group from the 2017 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference "Catalyzing System Change through Health Care Simulation: Systems, Competency, and Outcomes" held in Orlando, Florida, on May 16, 2017, focused on the use of human factors (HF) and simulation in the field of emergency medicine (EM). The HF discipline is often underutilized within EM but has significant potential in improving the interface between technologies and individuals in the field. The discussion explored the domain of HF, its benefits in medicine, how simulation can be a catalyst for HF work in EM, and how EM can collaborate with HF professionals to effect change. Implementing HF in EM through health care simulation will require a demonstration of clinical and safety outcomes, advocacy to stakeholders and administrators, and establishment of structured collaborations between HF professionals and EM, such as in this breakout group.

Scribe Impacts on Provider Experience, Operations, and Teaching in an Academic Emergency Medicine Practice.

INTRODUCTION: Physicians dedicate substantial time to documentation. Scribes are sometimes used to improve efficiency by performing documentation tasks, although their impacts have not been prospectively evaluated. Our objective was to assess a scribe program's impact on emergency department (ED) throughput, physician time utilization, and job satisfaction in a large academic emergency medicine practice. METHODS: We evaluated the intervention using pre- and post-intervention surveys and administrative data. All site physicians were included. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected in four-month periods one year apart. Primary outcomes included changes in monthly average ED length of stay (LOS), provider-specific average relative value units (RVUs) per hour (raw and normalized to volume), self-reported estimates of time spent teaching, self-reported estimates of time spent documenting, and job satisfaction. We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and appropriate tests for paired pre-post differences in continuous, categorical, and ranked variables. RESULTS: Pre- and post-survey response rates were 76.1% and 69.0%, respectively. Most responded positively to the intervention, although 9.5% reported negative impressions. There was a 36% reduction (25%-50%; p<0.01) in time spent documenting and a 30% increase (11%-46%, p<0.01) in time spent in direct patient contact. No statistically significant changes were seen in job satisfaction or perception of time spent teaching. ED volume increased by 88 patients per day (32-146, p=0.04) pre- to post- and LOS was unchanged; rates of patients leaving against medical advice dropped, and rates of patients leaving without being seen increased. RVUs per hour increased 5.5% and per patient 5.3%; both were statistically significant. No statistically significant changes were seen in patients seen per hour. There was moderate correlation between changes in ED volume and changes in productivity metrics. CONCLUSION: Scribes were well received in our practice. Documentation time was substantially reduced and redirected primarily to patient care. Despite an ED volume increase, LOS was maintained, with fewer patients leaving against medical advice but more leaving without being seen. RVUs per hour and per patient both increased.

Stereo imagery from the UNC augmented reality system for breast biopsy guidance.

This paper shows a number of stereoscopic images depicting the UNC augmented reality guidance system for medical visualization in operation.

Augmented reality guidance for needle biopsies: an initial randomized, controlled trial in phantoms.

We report the results of a randomized, controlled trial to compare the accuracy of standard ultrasound-guided needle biopsy to biopsies performed using a 3D Augmented Reality (AR) guidance system. A board-certified radiologist conducted 50 core biopsies of breast phantoms, with biopsies randomly assigned to one of the methods in blocks of five biopsies each. The raw ultrasound data from each biopsy was recorded. Another board-certified radiologist, blinded to the actual biopsy guidance mechanism, evaluated the ultrasound recordings and determined the distance of the biopsy from the ideal position. A repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that the head-mounted display method led to a statistically significantly smaller mean deviation from the desired target than did the standard display method (2.48 mm for control versus 1.62 mm for augmented reality, p<0.02). This result suggests that AR systems can offer improved accuracy over traditional biopsy guidance methods.