Citations

ABSTRACT Background Virtual interviews may limit an applicant’s ability to ascertain the culture of a training program. No-stakes campus visits (NSCVs) have been offered but their value is unknown. Objective The purpose of our study was to determine factors that influence applicants’ rank lists and determine barriers to and perceptions of NSCVs and their impact on applicants’ final rank lists. Methods All interviewed applicants of graduate medical education (GME) programs who agreed to participate in the study were emailed a survey after the 2023 National Resident Matching Program Match. The survey contained sections on demographics, perspectives on factors affecting ranking decisions, and perceptions of NSCVs. Results Of 796 applicants, 183 (22.9%) who interviewed at 16 different Mayo Clinic GME programs responded to the survey. Of 131 respondents who answered whether they accepted an NSCV offer, 39 (29.8%) accepted. Of 35 respondents who answered whether they thought attending NSCVs impacted their rank, 19 (54.3%) were either uncertain or said yes. Of 34 respondents who answered whether the NSCV influenced their ranking of the program, 16 (47.1%) said their rank did not change, 12 (35.3%) said they ranked the program higher, and 5 (14.7%) said they ranked the program lower. For respondents who did not attend NSCVs, financial burden and lack of time were primary reasons. Conclusions NSCVs are perceived positively by most respondents. Many either believed they influenced their position on the program’s rank list or were unsure. Most respondents said NSCVs either improved or did not change their ranking of the program.

Objective: To implement use of obstetric (OB) hospitalist telemedicine services (TeleOB) to support clinicians facing OB emergencies in low-resource hospital settings. Methods: TeleOB was staffed by OB hospitalists working at a tertiary maternity center. The service was available via real-time high-definition audio/video technology for providers at 17 outlying hospitals across a health system spanning two states. The initial 25 service activations are described. Results: TeleOB supported 17 deliveries, two postpartum emergency department (ED) consultations, and four antenatal ED consultations. In 10 of 17 (59%) deliveries, teleneonatology was jointly activated to support neonatal resuscitation. Sixteen (94%) deliveries occurred in multiparas, and five (29%) resulted from spontaneous preterm labor. Eighty percent (20/25) of activations occurred in facilities without maternity services. Conclusions: A TeleOB service staffed by OB hospitalists successfully supports hospitals in an integrated health care system. TeleOB is feasible for support of hospitals with no delivery facilities or with limited maternity care resources.

BACKGROUND: Promotions in academic medicine are frequently based on number of publications and leadership positions held. While prior study has established women publish less than men, many evaluations are limited to individual specialties and do not evaluate involvement with educational activities. OBJECTIVE: To compare gender differences in academic output, intramural leadership positions, and educational leadership positions of academic physicians. METHODS: The curriculum vitae and de-identified demographic data of all permanent physicians employed at a multi-site academic medical center were reviewed from April to May 2020. Multivariable logistic and Poisson regressions evaluated leadership positions and number of publications. RESULTS: Of 3,359 physicians in the demographic database, 32.3% (n = 1,087) were women and 72.5% were white (n = 2,510). Of the 3,015 physicians in the curriculum vitae database, 32% (n = 962) were women. Women were more likely (p < 0.001) to be assistant professor (54% vs. 42.7%) and less likely to be associate (18.1% vs. 20.3%) or full professor (14.6% vs. 29.1%). Women assistant professors published 22% fewer articles (ratio estimate = 0.78, p < 0.001), associate professors 18% less (coefficient = 0.82, p < 0.001), and full professors 23% less (coefficient = 0.77, p < 0.001). Fewer women were program directors for residencies (1.6% vs. 2.9%, p = 0.02) or fellowships (5.4% vs. 7.4%, p = 0.04), and held fewer division or department leadership positions (OR 0.8, 95% CI as [0.6, 1.0], p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Women physicians do not outperform men across any education, leadership, or publication category. A cultural shift is needed to redefine traditional metrics for leadership appointments if academic medicine hopes to achieve equity.

AbstractObjectivesSpontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) has emerged as a common cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in young women, although it is rarely discussed in the differential diagnosis for chest pain in the emergency department (ED). In a population otherwise considered low risk for myocardial infarction, there is a danger of incomplete workup and missed diagnosis. In this study, we aim to describe the clinical presentation of those who present to the ED with SCAD to increase awareness of this potentially fatal diagnosis among emergency practitioners.MethodsData were queried from the Mayo Clinic “Virtual” Multicenter SCAD Registry, a large multisite international disease registry. The registry includes demographic information as well as data from both medical records and surveys administered following the SCAD event. Symptom presentation was abstracted from survey narrative responses. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics.ResultsOf 1196 subjects included, chest pain was reported during initial SCAD event in 95.7%. Most common chest symptoms descriptors were pain, pressure/weight, and tightness, with radiation most often in one or both arms/shoulders. Other common symptoms included nausea, shortness of breath, and diaphoresis. Most common electrocardiogram (ECG) findings reported were ST elevation, T‐wave abnormality, and normal ECG. Initial troponin values were within normal range in 20.1% of patients.ConclusionWith young healthy women often considered “low risk” for ACS, it is important to understand that SCAD is a cause of ACS, and familiarity with presentation can improve awareness among emergency physicians. Our data can provide insight in helping to identify young women who present with chest pain due to SCAD so they can be appropriately evaluated.

Objectives: Patient involvement in the choice of whether to undergo emergency department observation unit (EDOU) admission and cardiac stress testing or follow-up with a physician could increase knowledge, increase satisfaction, and safely decrease resource use. We test this hypothesis in a randomized trial. Methods: We developed and tested Chest Pain Choice, a decision aid that communicates the pre-test probability of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) within 45 days and makes management options (EDOU admission and stress testing or 24-72 hr follow-up with a physician) explicit to the patient. Patients with a primary complaint of chest pain and no known coronary artery disease who were being considered for EDOU admission were eligible. Patient-clinician pairs were randomized to intervention (decision aid plus risk estimate) or usual care (no decision aid, no risk estimate). We used patient surveys and 30-day phone follow-up to assess the primary outcome (patient knowledge regarding their short-term risk for ACS), patient satisfaction, safety (delayed or missed ACS defined as acute myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmia, cardiogenic shock, or cardiac/unknown death), and resource use. Analysis was by intention to treat. Results: The 205 patients had the following characteristics: mean age (SD) 54.7 (11.8), 59% female, 36% history of HTN and 10% history of diabetes. Compared with usual care patients (n=104), patients receiving the decision aid (n=101) less frequently decided to be admitted to the EDOU for cardiac stress testing (58% vs 77%, absolute difference = 19%, 95% CI 6, 31), had a lower rate of stress testing (74% vs 90%, absolute difference = 16%, 95% CI 6, 26), greater knowledge of their exact pre-test probability of ACS (25% vs 1%, absolute difference = 24%, 95% CI 15, 33) and reported greater satisfaction with the decision-making process (strongly agree: 61% vs 40%, absolute difference = 21%, 95% CI 7, 33). There were no cases of delayed or missed ACS in either arm. Conclusion: Use of a decision aid in ED chest pain patients increased knowledge, increased satisfaction, and safely decreased resource use. In an era of health care reform, shared decision-making is a promising approach that may both increase patient engagement and decrease resource use.Funding(This research has received full or partial funding support from the American Heart Association, National Center)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY We sought to determine emergency medicine physicians’ accuracy in designating patients’ disposition status as “inpatient” or “observation” at the time of hospital admission in the context of Medicare’s Two-Midnight rule and to identify characteristics that may improve the providers’ predictions. We conducted a 90-day observational study of emergency department (ED) admissions involving adults aged 65 years and older and assessed the accuracy of physicians’ disposition decisions. Logistic regression models were fit to explore associations and predictors of disposition. A total of 2,257 patients 65 and older were admitted through the ED. The overall error rate in physician designation of observation or inpatient was 36%. Diagnoses most strongly associated with stays lasting less than two midnights included diverticulitis, syncope, and nonspecific chest pain. Diagnoses most strongly associated with stays lasting two or more midnights included orthopedic fractures, biliary tract disease, and back pain. ED physicians inaccurately predicted patient length of stay in more than one third of all patients. Under the Two-Midnight rule, these inaccurate predictions place hospitals at risk of underpayment and patients at risk of significant financial liability. Further work is needed to increase providers’ awareness of the financial repercussions of their admission designations and to identify interventions that can improve prediction accuracy.

Emergency Department (ED) is a complex care delivery environment in a hospital that provides time sensitive urgent and lifesaving care [1]. Emergency medicine is an unscheduled practice and therefore providers experience extreme fluctuations in their workload. ED crowding is a major concern that affects the efficacy of the ED workflow, which often is challenged by long wait times, overuse of observation units, patients either leaving without being seen by a provider and non-availability of inpatient beds to accommodate patients after diagnosis [2]. Evaluating ED workflow is a challenging task due to its chaotic nature, with some success using time-motion studies and novel capacity management tools are nowadays becoming common in ED to address workflow related issues [3]. Several studies reveal that Electronic Medical Record (EMR) adoption has not resulted in significant ED workflow improvements nor reduced the cost of ED operations. Since raw EMR data does not offer operational and clinical decision making insights, advanced EMR data analytics are often sought to derive actionable intelligence from EMR data that can provide insights to improve ED workflow. Improving ED workflow has been an important topic of research because of its great potential to optimize the urgent care needed for the patients and at the same time save time and cost. Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) is a wireless automatic identification and data capture technology device that has the potential for improving safety, preventing errors, saving costs, and increasing security and therefore improving overall organizational performance. RFID technology use in healthcare has opened a new space in healthcare informatics research that provides novel data to identify workflow process pitfalls and provide new directions [4]. The potential advantages of RFID adoption in healthcare and especially in ED has been well recognized to save costs and improve care delivery [5]. However, the large upfront infrastructure costs, need for an integrated health information technology (HIT), advanced analytical tools for big data analysis emerging from RFID and skilled data scientists to tackle the data to derive actionable intelligence discourage many hospitals from adoption RFID technology despite its potential advantages. Our recent pilot study on the RFID data analytics demonstrated the feasibility of quantifying and analyzing two novel variables such as ‘patient alone’ time defined as the total time a patient spends alone without interaction with a health care staff in the ED and ‘provider time’ defined as the total time a patient spends interacting with any health care staff [6]. The study motivated a more comprehensive big data analytics of RFID data which can provide better insights into optimizing ED workflow which can improve the quality of care in the ED and also reduce cost. In this work, the authors attempt to describe the RFID adoption in the ED at the Saint Mary’s Hospital at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, MN, a level one trauma center both for children and adults as a step towards optimizing ED workflow.

AbstractThe idea of shared decision making (SDM) is gaining traction within emergency medicine, although concerns about potential legal consequences of its use may be slowing its adoption. We describe the similarities and differences between informed consent (IC) requirements and SDM, highlighting their different purposes, scope, and implementation. We also illustrate several areas in which SDM may affect clinicians’ liability risks and suggest that while SDM is likely to reduce net liability risks, it may increase providers’ liability risks in certain situations or with select patients. Overall, engaging in SDM should be understood as clearly distinct from the process of obtaining IC and could reduce clinicians’ risk of liability when applied carefully and thoughtfully.