First Into the Lifeboats: Protecting Medical Student Education During the Hahnemann University Hospital Closure.

The announcement of the closure of Philadelphia's Hahnemann University Hospital in June 2019 sent shock waves through the academic community. The closure had a devastating impact on the residents and fellows who trained there, the patients who had long received their care there, and faculty and staff who had provided care there for decades. Since its beginnings, the hospital, established as part of Hahnemann Medical College in 1885, was a major site for medical student education. The authors share the planning before and actions during the crisis that protected the educational experiences of third- and fourth-year medical students at Drexel University College of Medicine assigned to Hahnemann University Hospital. The lessons they learned can be helpful to leadership in academic health systems in the United States facing a diminishing number of clinical training sites for medical and other health professions students, a situation that is likely to worsen as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weaken the health care ecosystem.

Predictors of emergency department use in children with persistent asthma in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia.

BACKGROUND: Racial disparities are evident among children with asthma in the United States, with non-Hispanic black children at particularly high risk for poor asthma outcomes, including frequent emergency department (ED) use for asthma exacerbations. OBJECTIVE: To compare asthma features in non-Hispanic black vs white children in Atlanta, Georgia, and determine what clinical features predict future ED use for asthma. METHODS: Self-reported black and white children 6 to 17 years of age with persistent asthma treated with controller medications completed medical history questionnaires, lung function testing, aeroallergen sensitization testing, and venipuncture. Medical records were reviewed for asthma-related ED visits for 12 months after the initial study visit. RESULTS: A total of 276 children were enrolled. Black children, compared with white children, resided in more disadvantaged zip code areas and were more likely to have public insurance. Black children also had more features of asthma severity and more ED visits during the study period. Predictors of ED use, aside from a previous ED visit, differed by race. After adjustment for socioeconomic status, predictors of ED use in white children included an ED visit in the previous year and sensitization to pets and dust; in black children, predictors included ED use in the previous year, the number of asthma controller medications, forced expiratory volume in 1 second less than 80% predicted, blood eosinophil count greater than 4%, and mold sensitization. CONCLUSION: Asthma features and ED use differ between black and white children in metropolitan Atlanta. Strategies to eliminate allergen exposure in the home and improve asthma control in these children may require tailoring for different racial groups.