Development of a remote learning educational model for international Emergency Medicine trainees in the era of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has pressured post-graduate medical education programs to shift from traditional in-person teaching to remote teaching and learning. Remote learning in medical education has been described in the literature mostly in the context of local in-country teaching. International remote medical education poses unique challenges for educators, especially in low-middle income countries (LMICs) who need continued Emergency Medicine (EM) specialty development. Our objective is to describe the development and implementation of our remote educational curriculum for EM trainees in West Bengal, India, and to assess trainee satisfaction with our remote learning curriculum. METHODS: Our curriculum was developed by adapting remote learning techniques used in Western post-graduate medical education, conducting literature searches on remote learning modalities, and through collaboration with local faculty in India. We assessed resident satisfaction in our curriculum with feedback surveys and group discussions. RESULTS: The remote educational curriculum had overall high trainee satisfaction ratings for weekly livestream video lectures and throughout our monthly educational modules (median ratings 9-10 out of a 10-point Likert scale). Qualitative feedback regarding specific lecture topics and educational modules were also received. CONCLUSIONS: International remote education in LMICs poses a unique set of challenges to medical educators. Residents in our study reported high satisfaction with the curriculum, but there is a lack of clarity regarding how a remote curriculum may impact academic and clinical performance. Future studies are needed to further evaluate the efficacy and academic and clinical implications of remote medical education in LMICs.

Utility of serodiagnostics designed for use in the United States for detection of Lyme borreliosis acquired in Europe and vice versa.

Although two-tier testing is standard practice in both the United States and Europe for the serologic diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis (LB), the test kits generally differ. The purpose of this study was to determine if the testing used in the United States will detect LB acquired in Europe and vice versa. Testing was performed on a convenience sample of archived sera from 40 LB patients from Austria and 39 from the United States, using first- and second-tier test kits from both the United States and Europe. The sensitivity of four first-tier tests from Europe and two first-tier tests from the United States was similar. Thus, two-tier testing was compared to the C6 ELISA as the first-tier test, since it is licensed in both the United States and Europe. The sensitivity of C6 two-tier testing with US assays was 9/40 (22.5 % [95 % CI 10.8-38.5 %]) for detection of LB acquired in Europe, and just 20.0 % (95 % CI 2.5-55.6 %) in the ten European patients with neurologic involvement. These results differed significantly from the sensitivity of European C6 two-tier testing that was 70.0 % (95 % CI 53.5-83.4 %) overall (p < 0.001) and 90.0 % (95 % CI 55.5-99.7 %) for the European patients with neurologic manifestations specifically (p = 0.016). In contrast, the sensitivity of European and US C6 two-tier testing was similar for detection of LB acquired in the United States. Two-tier serologic testing with the US test kits may be unsatisfactory for detection of LB acquired in Europe. First-tier testing with an assay such as the C6 ELISA should be considered as a stand-alone diagnostic strategy in such cases.

N-acetylcysteine plus intravenous fluids versus intravenous fluids alone to prevent contrast-induced nephropathy in emergency computed tomography.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We test the hypothesis that N-acetylcysteine plus normal saline solution is more effective than normal saline solution alone in the prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy. METHODS: The design was a randomized, double blind, 2-center, placebo-controlled interventional trial. Inclusion criteria were patients undergoing chest, abdominal, or pelvic computed tomography (CT) scan with intravenous contrast, older than 18 years, and at least one contrast-induced nephropathy risk factor. Exclusion criteria were end-stage renal disease, pregnancy, N-acetylcysteine allergy, or clinical instability. Intervention for the treatment group was N-acetylcysteine 3 g in 500 mL normal saline solution as an intravenous bolus and then 200 mg/hour (67 mL/hour) for up to 24 hours; and for the placebo group was 500 mL normal saline solution and then 67 mL/hour for up to 24 hours. The primary outcome was contrast-induced nephropathy, defined as an increase in creatinine level of 25% or 0.5 mg/dL, measured 48 to 72 hours after CT. RESULTS: The data safety and monitoring board terminated the study early for futility. Of 399 patients enrolled, 357 (89%) completed follow-up and were included. The N-acetylcysteine plus saline solution group contrast-induced nephropathy rate was 14 of 185 (7.6%) versus 12 of 172 (7.0%) in the normal saline solution only group (absolute risk difference 0.6%; 95% confidence interval -4.8% to 6.0%). The contrast-induced nephropathy rate in patients receiving less than 1 L intravenous fluids in the emergency department (ED) was 19 of 147 (12.9%) versus 7 of 210 (3.3%) for greater than 1 L intravenous fluids (difference 9.6%; 95% confidence interval 3.7% to 15.5%), a 69% risk reduction (odds ratio 0.41; 95% confidence interval 0.21 to 0.80) per liter of intravenous fluids. CONCLUSION: We did not find evidence of a benefit for N-acetylcysteine administration to our ED patients undergoing contrast-enhanced CT. However, we did find a significant association between volume of intravenous fluids administered and reduction in contrast-induced nephropathy.

Risk factors for radiocontrast nephropathy after emergency department contrast-enhanced computerized tomography.

OBJECTIVES: Radiocontrast nephropathy (RCN) is a known complication of procedures in which intravascular iodinated contrast material is used. The authors sought to determine the risk factors for RCN after emergency department (ED) contrast-enhanced computerized tomography (CECT). METHODS: This was a retrospective case-control study of patients presenting to a tertiary care ED between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2006. Inclusion criteria were CECT performed in the ED, serum creatinine measured prior to CECT, and serum creatinine measured 48 to 96 hours after CECT. Exclusion criterion was dialysis-dependent renal failure prior to CECT. The outcome of RCN was defined as an absolute creatinine increase of greater than or equal to 0.5 mg/dL, or a 25% increase above baseline. The charts of all RCN patients and a random sample of non-RCN patients were reviewed to document the presence or absence of potential risk factors. Univariate analysis was performed using chi-square and multiple logistic regression applying a weighted technique to account for sampling of non-RCN patients. RESULTS: Among the 5,006 patients meeting inclusion criteria, 349 (7%) developed RCN. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that serum creatinine > 2 mg/dL, liver disease, heart failure, hematocrit < 30%, hypertension, and diabetes were risk factors for RCN, whereas age > 75 years, vascular disease, and serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL were not. The area under the curve (AUC) for the model was 0.65. Although the risk of RCN increased with the number of risk factors present, we could not develop a model with sufficient diagnostic accuracy to guide clinical decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: The authors report risk factors for RCN in a large case-control study, but could not develop an accurate decision tool to identify patients at increased risk for RCN after ED CECT.

The feasibility and accuracy of point-of-care lactate measurement in emergency department patients with suspected infection.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies show that lactate is a useful prognostic marker in sepsis. OBJECTIVE: To study the feasibility and accuracy of a point-of-care (POC) analyzer capable of performing bedside serum lactate measurements; and to determine if other measurements (pH, base excess) are predictive of mortality. DESIGN: prospective cohort study of adult (age 18 years or older) Emergency Department (ED) patients with suspected infection during the study period of May 2006 through March 2007. SETTING: A 55,000-annual-visit urban tertiary care ED. INTERVENTION: A point-of-care device (i-STAT, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Princeton, NJ) was deployed using a standardized training and quality assurance process. Using POC testing, we measured serum lactate, pH, and base excess, as well as concomitant lactate measurement via a central laboratory. STATISTICS: Area under the curve (AUC) for receiver operator characteristic curve, Bland-Altman statistics along with a correlation coefficient, and relative risk with 95% confidence intervals reported. RESULTS: There were 699 patients enrolled, of whom 34 (4.9%) died. The AUCs for mortality prediction were: POC lactate 0.72, laboratory lactate 0.70, pH measurement 0.60, and base excess 0.60. Bland-Altman showed that POC lactate was, on average, 0.32 (95% confidence interval -0.35-0.98) lower than laboratory lactate, with agreement kappa = 0.97. CONCLUSIONS: A point-of-care testing device provides a reliable and feasible way to measure serum lactate at the bedside. The pH and base excess were less helpful.

Evaluation of end-tidal carbon dioxide role in predicting elevated SOFA scores and lactic acidosis.

The development of organ dysfunction is a key contributor to morbidity and mortality in sepsis. End-tidal carbon dioxide levels measured by non-invasive end-tidal capnography (ETCO2) may provide a rapid assessment of a patient's underlying metabolic status. The objective of this study was to explore the association between ETCO2 and (1) organ dysfunction [sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score], and (2) serum lactate levels in febrile emergency department (ED) patients. Prospective, observational cohort study of a convenience sample of 97 adult (age 18 years or older) patients presented to an academic urban ED with a fever and suspected infection. The outcomes were ED SOFA score and serum lactate level. Based on prior studies, we categorized an ETCO2 <35 mmHg, a priori, as abnormal for the exposure. We defined clinically significant organ failure as a SOFA score of >2, and an abnormal lactate as >4 mmol/L. The correlation of ETCO2 with SOFA and lactate level was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient. Operating characteristics were calculated with 95% confidence intervals, along with the area under the curve (AUC). Among 97 patients enrolled, 5 (5%) had an abnormal lactate and 34 (35%) had a SOFA score >2. A significant correlation was found between ETCO2 and SOFA score (r = -0.35, p < 0.01), and ETCO2 and lactate level (r = -0.35, p < 0.01). A receiver operator curve for ETCO2 and SOFA >2 had an AUC of 0.69. ETCO2 of <35 has a sensitivity of 0.73 (95% CI 0.56-0.85) and specificity 0.50 (0.38-0.62) in predicting SOFA scores >2. ETCO2 <35 has a sensitivity of 0.60 (0.22-0.88) and specificity 0.42 (0.32-0.52) in predicting lactate >4 with an AUC of 0.62. We found a small, but statistically significant correlation, between ETCO2 and SOFA scores; however, based on questionable operating characteristics, the test seems to have limited ability to meaningfully impact clinical decision making. Larger confirmatory studies are required before final assessment.