University of Arizona Emergency Medicine Physician Receives Grant Funds for COVID-19 Research
Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD, a scholar of the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine, received a grant to develop a rural ultrasound education program for Rural Emergency Medicine Providers, supporting lung ultrasound use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded emergency medicine research across the country. Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Arizona, received a $10,000 grant from the foundation to investigate knowledge gap in rural emergency medicine providers use of lung ultrasound. The project will evaluate the feasibility of implementing a tele-ultrasound training program for lung point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to facilitate the evaluation of suspected COVID-19 patients in rural Emergency Departments.
Her research team will build upon various tele-ultrasound platforms to create a sustainable, reproducible, and scalable tele-ultrasound education program. The goal is to help rural EM physicians feel more comfortable performing lung ultrasounds in the diagnosis and management of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients.
“Ability to perform lung ultrasound could help rural physicians with screening, management and follow-up,” said Dr. Situ-LaCasse. “This tele-ultrasound education program would allow rural EM providers to connect with POCUS experts for education, image review, consultation, and quality assurance.”
The project is called “CLUE: A tele-ultrasound pilot study in Rural Emergency Departments.” CLUE stands for COVID-19 Lung Ultrasound Education. Upon successful completion of this Tele-Ultrasound CLUE Pilot Study, Dr. Situ-LaCasse plans on expanding this to a multi-center study, to include other rural EDs in other geographic regions of the United States. Dr. Situ-LaCasse also plans on expanding this tele-ultrasound education platform to not only rural EDs, but also community EDs and other POCUS applications, such as cardiac ultrasound.
About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program
Dr. Situ-LaCasse is part of NFEM’s Scholar/Mentor Program. The Scholar/Mentor Program is a 2-year program that matches junior faculty members in an academic track in Emergency Medicine with mentors at their institution. This program provides an opportunity for scholars from 10 partner institutions to work on translational medicine research and foster professional development. Dr. Situ-LaCasse is one of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Situ-LaCasse is mentored by Srikar Adhikari, MD, MS, who is a University of Arizona College of Medicine Professor of Emergency Medicine, Section Chief of Emergency Ultrasound, and Director of the Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship.
Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.
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About the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine
The National Foundation of Emergency Medicine was founded in 2010 in order to encourage and support the development of career academic emergency medicine scientists. The Scholar/Mentor Program has been running for 3 years, producing three cohorts of scholars and mentors from 10 partner institutions across the United States.
NFEM Board of Directors include Michael Rolnick, MD, David Taylor, MD, Harvey Meislin, MD, David Sheehan, Esquire, and Charles Cairns, MD, who reviewed and approved the eight grant proposals by nine Foundation Scholars interested in COVID-19 related research. Karen Lutrick, PhD is the NFEM Director of Programs and Operations. Dr. Lutrick coordinated the grant application process and will provide support and guidance to the scholars as they begin their research projects.
The National Foundation of Emergency Medicine’s mission is to:
- Serve as a national platform for the improvement and expansion of research in Emergency Medicine
- Advance best practices and clinical excellence in Emergency Medicine
- Identify and support emergency medicine academic physicians to engage in and fund multi-institutional testing and research
For more information, email: info@NFOEM.com (Follow us on Twitter).
