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Background: Gender disparities in emergency medicine (EM) persist, with women underrepresented in leadership positions and faced with unique challenges, such as gender discrimination and harassment. To address these issues, professional development programs for women have been recommended. Objectives: The purpose of this scoping review was to examine current women's professional development programs for EM and develop a collection of program characteristics, meeting topics, and tips for success that can be useful to new or existing women's professional development programs. Methods: The authors systematically searched research databases for literature detailing current women's professional development programs for EM physicians. Studies detailing professional development programs for female physicians in EM were included. Results: After 149 unique articles were screened, 11 studies met inclusion criteria, describing 10 professional development programs for women in EM. The most commonly cited program objectives included providing mentors and role models (n = 9, 90%), offering career advice and promoting professional advancement and leadership skills (n = 5, 50%), increasing academic recognition for women (n = 4, 40%), and promoting work-life balance and integration (n = 2, 20%). The most common topics covered in program sessions included mentorship and coaching, compensation and/or negotiation, leadership skills, and career advancement and promotion. Challenges and barriers to the success of these programs included a lack of funding and support, difficulty in recruiting participants, lack of institutional recognition and support, lack of time, and difficulty in sustaining the program over time. Conclusions: The study's findings can inform the development of programs that promote gender equity and support the advancement of women in EM.
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Background: COVID-19, an illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, affected many aspects of health care worldwide in 2020. From March to May 2020, New York City experienced a large surge of cases. Objective: The aim of this study is to characterize the prevalence of illness and symptoms experienced by residents and fellows in 2 New York City hospitals during the period of March to May 2020. Methods: An institutional review board-exempt survey was distributed to emergency medicine housestaff in May 2020, and submissions were accepted through August 2020. Results: Out of 104 residents and fellows, 64 responded to our survey (a 61.5% response rate). Out of 64 responders, 27 (42%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Most residents experienced symptoms that are consistent with COVID-19; however, few received polymerase chain reaction testing. Out of 27 housestaff with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, 18 (67%) experienced fever and chills, compared with 8 out of 34 housestaff (24%) without SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Of the 27 housestaff with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, 19 (70%) experienced loss of taste and smell, compared with 2 out of 34 housestaff (6%) without SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Both fever and chills and loss of taste and smell were significantly more commonly experienced by antibody-positive compared to antibody-negative housestaff (P=.002 and <.001, respectively). All 13 housestaff who reported no symptoms during the study period tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that in our hospitals, the rate of COVID-19 illness among emergency department housestaff was much higher than previously reported. Further studies are needed to characterize illness among medical staff in emergency departments across the nation. The high infection rate among emergency medicine trainees stresses the importance of supplying adequate personal protective equipment for health care professionals.
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BACKGROUND: Third year clerkship grades include subjective evaluations. The purpose of this study is to identify if personality traits and self-esteem predispose students to better clerkship performance. METHODS: Third-year medical students completed the OCEAN Five Factor Model Personality Test and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Clerkship grades were matched to survey results. Chi-squared and linear regression analyses assessed the correlation between students' clerkship grades, personality traits, and self-esteem. RESULTS: There was no association between OCEAN personality domains and any component of clerkship grade. In secondary post hoc analysis, students who are "deep thinking" (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.26-7.01, p = 0.01), "sophisticated" (OR 2.70, 95% CI 1.12-6.50, p = 0.03), and "outgoing" (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.02-5.89, p = 0.04) were significantly more likely to get an overall clerkship grade of Honors. "Deep thinking" (OR 3.44, 95% CI 1.47-8.04, p = 0.004) and "efficient" (OR 2.87, 95% CI 1.12-7.36, p = 0.03) students scored better on shelf exams, while "shy" students scored worse (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.13-0.69, p = 0.004); "aloof" students received worse clinical scores (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.37-0.89, p = 0.03), and "rude" (OR 5.08, 95% CI 1.03-24.94, p = 0.03) and "sophisticated" (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.02-6.00, p = 0.04) students received higher preceptor scores. There was no correlation between self-esteem and clerkship grades. CONCLUSION: Students with certain personality traits may be predisposed to success during clerkships. Medical educators should be cognizant of biases favoring certain personalities and help students maximize success by recognizing their strengths and identifying gaps.
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BACKGROUND: Iatrogenic pulmonary air embolism is a fairly common and sometimes deadly complication of i.v. contrast injection. CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 33-year-old man with a symptomatic iatrogenic injection air embolism and resolution within 5 h. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Given the importance of computed tomography imaging in emergency medicine, clinicians should be aware of the risk for injection air embolism from i.v. contrast injection.
