Disaster Olympics: A Model for Resident Education.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe an educational method teaching Disaster Medicine to American Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians and to evaluate knowledge attainment using this method. METHODS: This was an observational study using a pre-test and a post-test. A full-scale disaster exercise (FSE) was conducted at a large academic center with two hospitals in Brooklyn, New York (USA). Eighty-two EM residents (physicians in training, post medical school) participated in the study. Inclusion criteria for study participation was all EM residents training at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate at the time of the study. There were no exclusion criteria. The exercise was a disaster drill designed as "Olympic Games." Participants in the exercise took a pre-test and a post-test. The primary outcome of the study was the mean difference between pre-test and post-test scores of the study participants using independent sample t-tests. Secondary outcomes of the study were percent of critical actions met by the residents and the hospitals as measured by direct observation of trained study personnel during the exercise. RESULTS: Mean resident post-test scores were higher than pre-test scores to a degree that was statistically significant (62% versus 53%; P =.002). The residents' performances ranged from 48% to 63% of objectives met. The hospitals' performances met 50% to 100% of their objectives. CONCLUSION: The use of an Olympic Games format was an effective model for disaster education for physicians. The model allowed for evaluation of performance and protocols of participants and hospital systems, respectively, and may be used objectively to evaluate for areas of improvement. The Disaster Olympics drill was found to improve emergency preparedness knowledge in the population studied and may constitute a novel and efficacious methodology in disaster training. Daniel P , Gist R , Grock A , Kohlhoff S , Roblin P , Arquilla B . Disaster Olympics: a model for resident education. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(3):237-241.

White paper on academic emergency medicine in India: INDO-US Joint Working Group (JWG).

Emergency Medicine (EM) is a new discipline for India. As Medical Council of India (MCI) makes progress in recognizing the need to develop EM residency training programs in India it is important that there exist an established training model for future faculty, residents and medical students. This INDO-US white paper makes a serious attempt to recognize the opportunities and challenges in developing academic emergency medicine in India. The contents of this white paper address the overall scenario and are not targeted towards a person, physician, body, hospital or any other associated entity. This paper emphasizes the importance of MCI recognized training in Emergency Medicine for physicians in India.

Acute arterial spasm in an extremity caused by inadvertent intra-arterial injection successfully treated in the emergency department.

We present a case of limb ischemia in a young man. For acute alcohol withdrawal, this patient was given chlordiazepoxide (Librium) through an angiocatheter inadvertently placed into a brachial arterial line. This caused severe spasm of the brachial artery and its branches. These findings were confirmed by angiography. Successful treatment occurred with intra-arterial papaverin.