Introduction: The demands of our rapidly expanding older population strain many emergency departments (EDs), and older patients experience disproportionately high adverse health outcomes. Trainee attitude is key in improving care for older adults. There is negligible knowledge of baseline emergency medicine (EM) resident attitudes regarding elder patients. Awareness of baseline attitudes can serve to better structure training for improved care of older adults. The objective of the study is to identify baseline EM resident attitudes toward older adults using a validated attitude scale and multidimensional analysis.

Methods: Six EM residencies participated in a voluntary anonymous survey delivered in summer and fall 2009. We used factor analysis using the principal components method and Varimax rotation, to analyze attitude interdependence, translating the 21 survey questions into 6 independent dimensions. We adapted this survey from a validated instrument by the addition of 7 EM-specific questions to measures attitudes relevant to emergency care of elders and the training of EM residents in the geriatric competencies. Scoring was performed on a 5-point Likert scale. We compared factor scores using student t and ANOVA.Results: 173 EM residents participated showing an overall positive attitude toward older adults, with a factor score of 3.79 (3.0 being a neutral score). Attitudes trended to more negative in successive post-graduate year (PGY) levels.

Conclusion: EM residents demonstrate an overall positive attitude towards the care of older adults. We noted a longitudinal hardening of attitude in social values, which are more negative in successive PGY-year levels. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(4):511-517.]

Introduction: Emergency care of older adults requires specialized knowledge of their unique physiology, atypical presentations, and care transitions. Older adults often require distinctive assessment, treatment and disposition. Emergency medicine (EM) residents should develop expertise and efficiency in geriatric care. Older adults represent over 25% of most emergency department (ED) volumes. Yet many EM residencies lack curricula or assessment tools for competent geriatric care. Fully educating residents in emergency geriatric care can demand large amounts of limited conference time. The Geriatric Emergency Medicine Competencies (GEMC) are high-impact geriatric topics developed to help residencies efficiently and effectively meet this training demand. This study examines if a 2-hour didactic intervention can significantly improve resident knowledge in 7 key domains as identified by the GEMC across multiple programs.

Methods: A validated 29-question didactic test was administered at six EM residencies before and after a GEMC-focused lecture delivered in summer and fall of 2009. We analyzed scores as individual questions and in defined topic domains using a paired student t test.

Results: A total of 301 exams were administered; 86 to PGY1, 88 to PGY2, 86 to PGY3, and 41 to PGY4 residents. The testing of didactic knowledge before and after the GEMC educational intervention had high internal reliability (87.9%). The intervention significantly improved scores in all 7 GEMC domains (improvement 13.5% to 34.6%; p<0.001). For all questions, the improvement was 23% (37.8% pre, 60.8% post; P<0.001) Graded increase in geriatric knowledge occurred by PGY year with the greatest improvement post intervention seen at the PGY 3 level (PGY1 19.1% versus PGY3 27.1%).

Conclusion: A brief GEMC intervention had a significant impact on EM resident knowledge of critical geriatric topics. Lectures based on the GEMC can be a high-yield tool to enhance resident knowledge of geriatric emergency care. Formal GEMC curriculum should be considered in training EM residents for the demands of an aging population. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(4):409-413.]

Background: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic fundamentally changed how populations interface with the healthcare system. Despite historical spikes in US mortality during the pandemic, emergency department (ED) visits were paradoxically low. This is a concerning phenomenon that raises a red flag regarding access to care, especially among vulnerable populations. In this study we sought to understand how ED utilization evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic among traditionally understudied, low-income, racially diverse US- and foreign-born mothers.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a pre-existing dataset of 3,073 participants enrolled in the Boston Birth Cohort at birth and followed prospectively. We obtained ED visit diagnoses from 2019 and 2020 via electronic health records, categorized according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, and compared them using graph plots, chi-square, and negative binomial regression.

Results: The number of ED visits decreased by 29.1% (P < 0.001) from 2019 (1,376) to 2020 (976). However, visits for infectious and parasitic diseases, including COVID-19, increased by 90.6% (32:61) with COVID-19 accounting for 77% of those visits in 2020 (47/61). Mental health-related visits increased by 40.9%(44:62), with diagnoses of alcohol use disorder increasing by 183% (6:17). Regression analysis showed 50% less ED utilization among foreign- vs US-born participants; however, the increase in infectious diseases visits was greater among foreign-born compared to US-born mothers (185% vs 26%, P = 0.01), while the increase in mental health diagnoses was greater among US-born mothers (69% vs −33%, P = 0.10).

Conclusion: Despite a decrease in total ED visits during the pandemic, there was an increase in COVID-19- (immigrant > US born) and mental health- (US-born only) related visits. Our findings demonstrate that EDs remain a critical access point for care for minority populations and have implications for preparedness, resources, and services of EDs in urban settings to better address the needs of communities. However, alternative avenues for healthcare services for these populations, particularly during health crises, warrant further investigation.

Introduction: Electronic influenza surveillance systems aid in health surveillance and clinical decisionmaking within the emergency department (ED). While major advances have been made in integrating clinical decision-making tools within the electronic health record (EHR), tools for sharing surveillance data are often piecemeal, with the need for data downloads and manual uploads to shared servers, delaying time from data acquisition to end-user. Real-time surveillance can help both clinicians and public health professionals recognize circulating influenza earlier in the season and provide ongoing situational awareness.

Methods: We created a prototype, cloud-based, real-time reporting system in two large, academically affiliated EDs that streamed continuous data on a web-based dashboard within hours of specimen collection during the influenza season. Data included influenza test results (positive or negative) coupled with test date, test instrument geolocation, and basic patient demographics. The system provided immediate reporting to frontline clinicians and to local, state, and federal health department partners.

Results: We describe the process, infrastructure requirements, and challenges of developing and implementing the prototype system. Key process-related requirements for system development included merging data from the molecular test (GeneXpert) with the hospitals’ EHRs, securing data, authorizing/ authenticating users, and providing permissions for data access refining visualizations for end-users.

Conclusion: In this case study, we effectively integrated multiple data systems at four distinct hospital EDs, relaying data in near real time to hospital-based staff and local and national public health entities, to provide laboratory-confirmed influenza test results during the 2014-2015 influenza season. Future innovations need to focus on integrating the dashboard within the EHR and clinical decision tools.