Stephen Edward Asha

Review article: Burnout in emergency medicine physicians

Training and the practice of emergency medicine are stressful endeavours, placing emergency medicine physicians at risk of burnout. Burnout syndrome is associated with negative outcomes for patients, institutions and the physician. The aim of this review is to summarise the available literature on burnout among emergency medicine physicians and provide recommendations for future work in this field. A search of MEDLINE (1946–present) (search terms: ‘Burnout, Professional’ AND ‘Emergency Medicine’ AND ‘Physicians’; ‘Stress, Psychological’ AND ‘Emergency Medicine’ AND ‘Physicians’) and EMBASE (1988–present) (search terms: ‘Burnout’ AND ‘Emergency Medicine’ AND ‘Physicians’; ‘Mental Stress’ AND ‘Emergency Medicine’ AND ‘Physicians’) was performed. The authors focused on articles that assessed burnout among emergency medicine physicians. Most studies used the Maslach Burnout Inventory to quantify burnout, allowing for cross‐study (and cross‐country) comparisons. Emergency medicine has burnout levels in excess of 60% compared with physicians in general (38%). Despite this, most emergency medicine physicians (>60%) are satisfied with their jobs. Both work‐related (hours of work, years of practice, professional development activities, non‐clinical duties etc.) and non‐work‐related factors (age, sex, lifestyle factors etc.) are associated with burnout. Despite the heavy burnout rates among emergency medicine physicians, little work has been performed in this field. Factors responsible for burnout among various emergency medicine populations should be determined, and appropriate interventions designed to reduce burnout.

Comparison of radiation exposure of trauma patients from diagnostic radiology procedures before and after the introduction of a panscan protocol.

Objectives: To compare the proportion of patients exposed to a radiation dose in excess of 20 mSv, and to document missed injuries before and after the introduction of a panscan protocol for blunt trauma.

Treatments for blunt chest trauma and their impact on patient outcomes and health service delivery

Blunt chest trauma is associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Complications in blunt chest trauma develop secondary to rib fractures as a consequence of pain and inadequate ventilation. This literature review aimed to examine clinical interventions in rib fractures and their impact on patient and hospital outcomes. A systematic search strategy, using a structured clinical question and defined search terms, was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library. The search was limited to studies of adult humans from 1990-March 2014 and yielded 977 articles, which were screened against inclusion/exclusion criteria. A hand search was then performed of the articles that met the eligibility criteria, 40 articles were included in this review. Each article was assessed using a quantitative critiquing guideline. From these articles, interventions were categorised into four main groups: analgesia, surgical fixation, clinical protocols and other interventions. Surgical fixation was effective in patients with flail chest at improving patient outcomes. Epidural analgesia, compared to both patient controlled analgesia and intravenous narcotics in patients with three or more rib fractures improved both hospital and patient outcomes, including pain relief and pulmonary function. Clinical pathways improve outcomes in patients ≥ 65 with rib fractures. The majority of reviewed papers recommended a multi-disciplinary approach including allied health (chest physiotherapy and nutritionist input), nursing, medical (analgesic review) and surgical intervention (stabilisation of flail chest). However there was a paucity of evidence describing methods to implement and evaluate such multidisciplinary interventions. Isolated interventions can be effective in improving patient and health service outcomes for patients with blunt chest injuries, however the literature recommends implementing strategies such as clinical pathways to improve the care and outcomes of thesetre patients. The implementation of evidence-practice interventions in this area is scarce, and evaluation of interventions scarcer still.

Impact from point-of-care devices on emergency department patient processing times compared with central laboratory testing of blood samples: a randomised controlled trial and cost-effectiveness analysis

Objective To determine if time to disposition decisions for emergency department (ED) patients can be reduced when blood tests are processed using point-of-care (POC) devices and to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of POC compared with laboratory testing. Methods This randomised trial enrolled adults suspected of an acute coronary syndrome or presenting with conditions considered to only require blood tests available by POC. Participants were randomised to have blood tests processed by POC or laboratory. Outcomes measured were time to disposition decision and ED length-of-stay (LOS). The cost-effectiveness analysis calculated the total and mean costs per ED presentation, as well as total and mean benefits in time saved to disposition decision. Results There were 410 POC participants and 401 controls. The mean times to a disposition decision for POC versus controls were 3.24 and 3.50 h respectively, a difference of 7.6% (95% CI 0.4% to 14.3%, p=0.04), and 4.32 and 4.52 h respectively for ED LOS, a difference of 4.4% (95% CI −2.7% to 11.0%, p=0.21). Improved processing time was greatest for participants enrolled by senior staff with a reduction in time to disposition decision of 19.1% (95% CI 7.3% to 29.4%, p<0.01) and ED LOS of 15.6% (95% CI 4.9% to 25.2%, p=0.01). Mean pathology costs were

Improvement in emergency department length of stay using an early senior medical assessment and streaming model of care: A cohort study.

12 higher in the POC group (95% CI

Factors associated with failure to follow up with a general practitioner after discharge from the emergency department.

7 to

Improvement in emergency department length of stay using a nurse-led ‘emergency journey coordinator’: A before/after study

18) and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was

Patient-controlled analgesia compared with interval analgesic dosing for reducing complications in blunt thoracic trauma: a retrospective cohort study

113 per hour saved in time to disposition decision for POC compared with standard laboratory testing. Conclusions Small improvements in disposition decision time were achieved with POC testing for a moderate increase in cost. Greatest benefit may be achieved when POC is targeted to senior medical staff.

No effect of time of day at presentation to the emergency department on the outcome of patients who are admitted to the intensive care unit

Australian EDs are required to conform to the National Emergency Access Target (NEAT): patients must be discharged within 4 h of arrival. The aim of the present study was to determine if a model of care called Senior Assessment and Streaming (SAS) would increase the proportion of patients achieving NEAT.

Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of invasive versus conservative management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax

To identify factors associated with failure to follow up with a general practitioner (GP) after discharge from the ED or emergency medicine unit (EMU).