CAEP Position Statement: Emergency department management of people with opioid use disorder.

Deaths due to opioid overdose have reached unprecedented levels in Canada; over 12,800 opioid-related deaths occurred between January 2016 and March 2019, and overdose death rates increased by approximately 50% from 2016 to 2018.1 In 2016, Health Canada declared the opioid epidemic a national public health crisis,2 and life expectancy increases have halted in Canada for the first time in decades.3 Children are not exempt from this crisis, and the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada has recently prioritized the prevention of problematic substance use among Canadian youth.4.

Ice cream rounds: The adaptation, implementation, and evaluation of a peer-support wellness rounds in an emergency medicine resident training program.

Introduction/Innovation ConceptEmergency medicine (EM) requires physicians to deal with acutely ill patients in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, which creates a barrier to debriefing after critical events. These unique challenges can negatively impact wellness. We sought to adapt and implement a peer-support wellness program called 'Ice Cream Rounds' in an EM residency setting. METHODS: A needs assessment survey was conducted among EM residents at The University of Ottawa to gauge interest and obtain resident input regarding program design. The structure of the sessions was adapted from similar initiatives in Canadian Pediatric Residency programs.Curriculum, Tool or MaterialConfidential peer-support sessions were created and piloted. Residents preferred peer facilitators, rather than staff, so two residents obtained training the Faculty of Medicine's Wellness Program to lead sessions. Attendance at rounds was voluntary; however, overall attendance was recorded along with feedback from pilot sessions. Discussion topics included difficult patient encounters, poor patient outcomes, challenges in residency, and ethical issues. Post implementation feedback demonstrated that Ice Cream Rounds was a helpful forum for residents to discuss important issues with colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first Canadian EM training program to adapt, implement, and evaluate peer-support wellness rounds for debriefing, and this initiative can be easily adopted by any EM training program.

Two, three, and four-drug regimens for HIV post-exposure prophylaxis in a North American sexual assault victim population.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Due to perceived increased tolerability and compliance, and decreased cost, recent trends in practice are moving towards using fewer drugs for HIV post-exposure prophylaxis. However, there is limited literature to assess this is in the North American sexual assault victim population. METHODS: This retrospective before-and-after cohort study compared patients seen at a sexual assault care facility before and after the introduction of two and three-drug post-exposure prophylaxis regimens. Our primary outcome was completion of the 28-day regimen. Secondary objectives included HIV seroconversion rates and patient reported side effects. RESULTS: Six-hundred-thirty charts from a 2-year period were reviewed, and 429 met inclusion criteria. There was no difference in completion rates of post-exposure prophylaxis between the two cohorts (50.5% vs. 51.6%). However, there were fewer reported side effects (72.2% vs. 17.6%) in the later cohort. We subsequently compared all patients in either cohort who received four-drug therapy (N=128) versus those who received two or three-drug regimens (N=47). The two or three-drug regimen group had a higher completion rate (66.0% vs. 42.2%; p=0.03), and a lower rate of reported side effects (19.1% vs. 53.9%), specifically for nausea (12.8% vs. 36.7%), constipation (0% vs. 7.9%), diarrhea (2.1% vs. 21.1%), mood changes (0% vs. 10.9%), headache (2.1% vs. 16.4%), and fatigue (6.4% vs. 26.6%). There were no HIV seroconversions in either group. CONCLUSION: Two and three-drug HIV post-exposure prophylaxis regimens are better tolerated by patients and associated with greater compliance than four-drug therapy, and could be considered in the sexual assault victim population.

Incidence and risk factors associated with de novo autoimmune hepatitis after liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: De novo autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) describes the development of hepatitis with autoimmune features in liver transplant (LT) patients without prior diagnosis of AIH. We aimed to evaluate the incidence and risk factors for de novo AIH. METHODS: A cohort of 576 patients with LT for aetiologies other than AIH was evaluated. RESULTS: De novo AIH was diagnosed in 17 patients (3%) with an overall incidence of 4.0 cases per 1000 patient-years. By univariate Cox analysis, patients who received cyclosporine A had lower risk (HR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07-0.80, P = 0.02), whereas patients who had female donors (HR 3.03, 95% CI 1.11-8.25, P = 0.03), donors ≥40-years (HR 6.95, 95% CI 1.93-25.03, P = 0.003), and those who received tacrolimus (HR 4.39, 95% CI 1.47-13.13, P = 0.008) and mycophenolate mofetil (HR 6.37, 95% CI 1.62-25.13, P = 0.008) had higher risk. Survival was similar in patients with de novo AIH compared with the LT population (mean survival time, 17 ± 1.5 vs. 16 ± 0.5 years, Log-rank test; P = 0.4). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of de novo AIH is low and does not impact on long-term survival. Recipients of female or older donor grafts, or recipients using tacrolimus, or mycophenolate mofetil as part of their immunosuppressive regimen have a higher risk of de novo AIH, whereas LT recipients maintained on cyclosporine A have a lower risk.