NFEM NEWS – National Foundation of Emergency Medicine

NFEM Scholars Present at #SAEM21

May 4, 2021/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

The National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) supports early career academic emergency medicine physicians (EMPs) who contribute to translational medicine through research. This year, four emergency medicine scholars in our Scholar-Mentor Program submitted five abstracts on research they will be presenting at the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) 2021 virtual meeting, #SAEM21. SAEM holds annual meetings which allow the opportunity for EMPs to showcase their contributions to translational medicine. NFEM Scholars receive funding for their research as part of the Scholar-Mentor program, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars had the opportunity to apply for COVID-19-related research grants. Four of the five abstracts presented at #SAEM21 will showcase COVID-19-specific research. Below is a list of our scholars’ planned presentations.

Presentations

Dr. Justin Brooten

Brooten JK, Cline DM, Gabbard JL. Variables associated with high inpatient mortality within 72 hours of interhospital transfer. Oral presentation at: Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Conference, May 14, 2021; Virtual.

Dr. Elizabeth Clair

Clair E, Shaw J, Dehon E. Impact of emergency department physician emotions on clinical decision making during COVID-19. Oral presentation at: the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Conference; May 14, 2021; Virtual.
Clair E, Dehon E. Prevalence and predictors of distress among emergency medicine physicians during COVID-19. Oral presentation at: Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Conference; May 14, 2021; Virtual.

Dr. Debbie Madhok

Nardone A, Madhok DY, Urrutia E, Wong A, Rodriguez R. The impact of COVID-19 shelter-in-place order on traumatic brain injuries. Oral presentation at: Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Conference; May 14, 2021; Virtual.

Dr. Dana Sacco

Sacco D. Increased number of emergency department visits for mental health complaints during the COVID-19 pandemic. Oral presentation at: Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Conference; May 13, 2021; Virtual.

Learn more about our scholars’ contributions to translational medicine 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 includes Michael Rolnick, MD, David Taylor, MD, David Sheehan, Esquire and Charles Cairns, MD. Karen Lutrick, PhD is the NFEM Director of Programs and Operations.

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@nfem.org | Follow us on Twitter.

Paradigm Shifts in Bedside Ultrasound with Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD

February 5, 2021/in NFEM NEWS, Uncategorized /by nfem

Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Arizona.

Paradigm Shifts in Bedside Ultrasound – Transcript

In this installment, Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD provides an overview of bedside ultrasound in the ED, both as a teaching and diagnostic tool. Dr. LaCasses presents three paradigm shifts for bedside ultrasound:

Ultrasound training and education should be accessible to all medical professionals.
We need better tools for teaching ultrasound
There should be simplification and integration of complex concepts regarding cardiac ultrasound, so that all emergency physicians can perform bedside echocardiography on chest pains and syncope patients.

Host: Aaron N. Leetch, MD

Guest: Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD

Paradigm Shifts in Sickle Cell Disease with Gentry Wilkerson, MD

January 2, 2021/in NFEM NEWS, Uncategorized /by nfem

Dr. Wilkerson is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Originally Published in 2018.

Transcript: Paradigm Shifts in Sickle Cell Disease

In this installment, Dr. Wilkerson provides a broad overview of his research in sickle cell disease (SCD) with three paradigms shifts for emergency medicine:

Have a restoration of empathy for patients with Sickle Cell Disease presenting to the ED
Recognize the burden that the care of Sickle Cell Disease patients has on the health care system
Recognize that vaso-occlusive episodes associated with sickle cell disease are a diagnosis of exclusion.

Host: Aaron N. Leetch, MD

Guest: Gentry Wilkerson, MD

Paradigm Shifts in Palliative Care with Justin Brooten, MD

December 30, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

Dr. Brooten is an Assistant Professor of Emergency and Palliative Medicine with Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Transcript: Paradigm Shifts in Palliative Care.docx

In this installment, Dr. Brooten discusses palliative care and introduces three paradigms shifts for emergency medicine:

Palliative care is not just an end of life care.
Some emergencies are actually palliative care and/or end of life care opportunities.
Specific communication strategies can help direct patients toward the routes of care that actually fit their hopes and expectations.

Host: Aaron N. Leetch, MD

Guest: Justin Brooten, MD

About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program

Dr. Brooten 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. Brooten is mentored by David Cline, MD, a Physician and Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Wake Forest University Emergency Medicine Physician Receives Grant Funds for COVID-19 Research

December 8, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

National Foundation of Emergency Medicine Scholar, Justin Brooten, MD, received a grant to study the effect of the COVID-19 infection outcomes in hospitalized older adults.

TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded emergency medicine research across the country. Justin Brooten, MD, an Assistant Professor of Emergency and Palliative Medicine with Wake Forest Baptist Health, received a $10,000 grant from the foundation to study the association between frailty scores and health-related outcomes in patients over age 65 with COVID-19 infection. Dr. Brooten will implement a retrospective cohort study of patients over age 65 with and without COVID-19 infection. He will assess whether the electronic Frailty Index (eFI) is an independent predictor of poor outcomes for patients with COVID-19. 

Dr. Brooten is the principal investigator (PI) of the study called “Analysis of The Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) in Relation to COVID-19 Infection Outcomes in Hospitalized Older Adults in a Southeastern US Health Care System.” NFEM Mentor, David M. Cline, MD, along with Brian C. Hiestand, MD, an Emergency Medicine Physician and Jennifer Gabbard, MD, a geriatrics and palliative care specialist, are also part of the research team.

“It is understood that older adults with higher eFI scores are at a higher risk of hospitalization, falls, and all-cause mortality” said Dr. Brooten. “Our team will utilize the eFI to examine the relationship between frailty and health related outcomes for older patients with COVID-19.”

Dr. Brooten’s team anticipates that the results of this study could be used to further support the use of electronic index reporting tools and other means by which to provide accurate and timely prognostic information to emergency physicians caring for frail older adults while navigating complex medical decision making in the emergency setting. 

About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program

Dr. Brooten 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. Brooten is one of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Brooten is mentored by David Cline, MD, a Physician and Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.

# # #   

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). 

Emory University and University of California, San Diego Emergency Medicine Physicians Receive Grant Funds for COVID-19 Research  

December 8, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

National Foundation of Emergency Medicine Scholars, Monique Antionette Smith, MD and Gabriel Wardi, MD, received funding for a multi-institution study in order to use big data to predict the need for delayed tracheal intubation in Emergency Department patients.

TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded research funding for NFEM emergency medicine scholars across the country. Monique Antoinette Smith, MD, MSc, the Founding Director of Health DesignED, the Acute Care Design + Innovation Center at Emory University and Gabriel Wardi, MD, MPH, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of California San Diego both received $15,000 grants from the foundation for their multi-institutional project. The researchers aim to develop an algorithm to better predict the need for delayed tracheal intubation in emergency department (ED) patients.

Respiratory failure and need for mechanical ventilation is the most common reason that COVID-19 patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Early prediction of which patients are likely to require mechanical ventilation may prompt a change in management plans and help the emergency medicine team plan for safer tracheal intubations, a major source of healthcare worker transmission of COVID-19. Additionally, patients with a very low risk of tracheal intubation can be identified and may be safely admitted to a non-ICU level of care, reducing unnecessary intubations.

“The demand for accurate prognostication of the need for mechanical ventilation is important,” said Gabriel Wardi, MD, MPH. “Early identification and increased situational awareness of such patients allows for safe tracheal intubation in order to avoid the potential for high-risk ‘crash’ intubations.”

The collaborative research team has a history of using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict negative outcomes like sepsis or mechanical ventilation. “We aim to train and develop a two-layer feedforward neural network to predict the onset of mechanical ventilation from 3 to 48 hours in advance of tracheal intubation in ED patients,” said Monique Antoinette Smith, MD, MSc. “After we develop this model, we can use transfer learning to fine tune the model to predict delayed tracheal intubation in patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.” Transfer learning is a technique used in machine learning to translate patterns and extracted features learning in one setting—then generalize those patterns in another setting.

About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program

Both Dr. Smith and Dr. Wardi are 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. Smith and Dr. Wardi are two of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Smith is mentored by Jonathan Rupp, PhD, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University, and Dr. Wardi is mentored by Stephen R. Hayden, MD, a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, San Diego College of Medicine.

Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.

# # #   

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). 

University of Mississippi Emergency Medicine Physician Receives Grant Funds for  COVID-19 Research

December 8, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

National Foundation of Emergency Medicine Scholar, Elizabeth Clair, DO, received a grant to identify the prevalence of mental health concerns among emergency medicine physicians during COVID-19.

TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded emergency medicine research across the country. Elizabeth Clair, DO, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Mississippi, received a $10,000 grant from the foundation to study Emergency Medicine (EM) physician’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study will measure the prevalence of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and burnout among EM physicians in various regions of the United States. Dr. Clair will also examine the extent to which EM physicians are feeling more engaged at work (e.g., energized, excited) as a result of COVID-19. A secondary aim of the study is to identify both individual (e.g., demographic, coping strategies) and organizational (e.g., practice setting, personal protective equipment, and testing availability, communication from leadership) risk and protective factors related to psychological distress among EM physicians during COVID-19.  

“As frontline providers during COVID-19, EM physicians are facing many challenges placing them at risk for developing psychological distress,” says Dr. Clair. “They are treating an unfamiliar virus that has no known cure or well-established treatment. There is legitimate fear around contracting the virus, atop limited supply of personal protective equipment.”

Dr. Clair’s project is significant because it is an initial step toward identifying the current mental health needs of frontline health care providers. This study will inform and support the development of individual and organizational level interventions designed to promote EM physician wellbeing during COVID-19 and future healthcare crises.

About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program

Dr. Clair 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. Clair is one of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Clair is mentored by Dr. Erin Dehon who is an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.

# # #   

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). 

Mass General Hospital/Harvard Medical School Emergency Medicine Physician Receives Grant Funds for COVID-19 Research  

December 8, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

National Foundation of Emergency Medicine Scholar, Kori Zachrison, MD, MSc, received a grant to study the use of telemedicine as protection against COVID-19 exposure while ensuring quality of care among patients with limited English proficiency

TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded research funding for NFEM emergency medicine scholars across the country. Kori Zachrison, MD, MSc, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, received a $10,000 grant from the foundation to examine the use of electronic personal protective equipment, or “e-PPE,” whereby providers use telemedicine to evaluate patients in the same ED and reduce exposure to COVID-19.

Through her research, Dr. Zachrison aims to determine if evaluations using e-PPE provide equivalent delivery of care and equivalent clinical outcomes for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) when compared to an in-person exam. Dr. Zachrison will study patients with suspected COVID-19 in two Boston EDs, identifying those with LEP and determine whether patients with LEP who received evaluations by e-PPE had different clinical outcomes than those with an in-person exam.

Dr. Zachrison says, “There are ways we might imagine that the increasing use of telemedicine in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic could improve disparities for vulnerable populations by improving access to specialists or overcoming transportation barriers; at the same time, there are also ways that telemedicine could potentially contribute to worsening disparities related to digital literacy, language fluency, or interpreter access. Particularly as the pandemic has disproportionately affected communities of color, it’s really critical that we are vigilant in a response that addresses these issues head-on without risk of widening those disparities.”

The study will advance understanding of the relationship between telemedicine and health disparities among patients with limited-English proficiency. Three barriers to accessing telemedicine are the absence of technology, digital literacy, and reliable internet coverage. This “digital divide” disproportionately affects older people of color and those with low socioeconomic status. By studying e-PPE use in the ED, the study overcomes the digital divide and isolates the relationship between telemedicine as a communication tool to understand whether the quality of care delivery for patients with LEP is affected by the use of telemedicine.

About the NFEM Scholar Mentor Program

Dr. Zachrison 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. Zachrison is one of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Zachrison is mentored by Carlos Camargo, MD, DrPH who is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.

# # #     

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). 

University of Maryland Emergency Medicine Physician Receives Grant Funds for COVID-19 Research  

December 8, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

National Foundation of Emergency Medicine Scholar, Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, MS, received a grant to analyze data from 55 hospitals stretched across 11 states to better understand how different public health interventions, like closing bars and schools or mandating masks while in public, impact the number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases treated in emergency departments and intensive care units.

TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded emergency medicine research across the country. Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, MS, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, received a $10,000 grant from the foundation to investigate the effect of non-pharmacological interventions on COVID-19 emergency department visits. Public health interventions (PHI) include school closures, banning large gatherings, mandating masks in public, and quarantining sick patients. In the United States, individual states implemented PHIs on their own with varying interventions and durations. Dr. Dezman will analyze the emergency department visits, admissions, and death rates due to COVID-19 across 11 states.

Dr. Dezman plans to construct a retrospective cohort of all emergency department visits and admissions to 55 hospitals stretched across 11 states over the study period. The goal is to use encounter data at each hospital to show how the types and timing of the various PHI at the state level increase or decrease the COVID-19-related in-hospital mortality.

Dr. Dezman says, “By examining the timing of cases, the types and timing of the public health interventions, and emergency department encounters across a range of states, we can gain critical insight as to how and when such interventions should be instituted during the next pandemic to decrease the strain on our hospital system.”

About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program

Dr. Dezman 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. Dezman is one of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Dezman is mentored by Stephen Thom, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Thom is also the Director of Research of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland.

Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.

# # #   

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). 

Columbia University Emergency Medicine Physician Receives Grant Funds for COVID-19 Research

December 8, 2020/in NFEM NEWS /by nfem

National Foundation of Emergency Medicine Scholar, Dana Sacco, MD, received a grant to study the affect of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient visits for psychiatric and substance abuse-related complaints.

TUCSON, Ariz. — To encourage COVID-19 related research, the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM) has awarded emergency medicine research across the country. Dana Sacco, MD, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University, received a $10,000 grant from the foundation to examine patient visits for psychiatric and substance abuse-related complaints. Dr. Sacco will utilize ED data from the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center Emergency Department, which faced among the highest volumes of COVID-19 cases across the US from February to May 2020. Dr. Sacco plans to leverage her Emergency Department’s COVID-19 registry, among the largest in the country, that tracks patient outcomes and course.

The Emergency Department (ED) plays a key role in primary care and acute management of behavioral emergencies. Patients with mental health complaints, including substance abuse, may be particularly impacted by disasters, such as a pandemic. Dr. Sacco will compare the patient populations presenting with psychiatric complaints in the era of COVID-19 to the same population of patients at the same time the previous year. The research team will then analyze the total volume of patients with psychiatric and substance abuse-related complaints during the two timeframes. Dr. Sacco will measure any relationship between the pandemic and psychiatric and substance abuse related encounters in the emergency department. This project paves the way for future large-scale dataset analyses, furthering the understanding the impact of the pandemic on non-COVID-19 related complaints.

“The impact on care and management of non-COVID-19 acute problems during the pandemic remains unknown,” said Dana Sacco, MD. “Patients with mental health presentations, particularly psychiatric and substance abuse complaints maybe especially vulnerable.”

About the NFEM Scholar/Mentor Program

Dr. Sacco 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. Sacco is one of nine scholar-mentor pairs who will receive funding for their COVID-19 related research projects. Dr. Sacco is mentored by Angela Mills, MD. Dr. Mills is the Chief of Emergency Medicine Services at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Read more about other COVID-19 related research other NFEM scholars are involved in here.

# # #   

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). 