Department Blog

Assistant Professors Jessica Downing MD, Daniel Haase MD, and Kevin Jones MD, Associate Professor Quincy Tran, MD, PhD, and colleagues from Shock Trauma authored “No Echo, no problem? Predictors of right heart strain among patients with pulmonary embolism,” published ahead of print on March 17 by the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The article analyzes the vital signs and lab test values that, in combination, can help identify RHS in pulmonary embolism patients when a transthoracic echocardiogram cannot be obtained without delay. (Am J Emerg Med. 2025 July;93:37-47. Epub ahead of print.)


Posted 4/23/2025 by Eileen O'Brien

When Bandemia becomes a critical alert

A lab test finding of Bandemia is a potential marker for severe infection. EM resident Matthew Jackson, MD, Assistant Professor Alexis Salerno, MD, and Professor Stephen Schenkel, MD, MPP, reported on a retrospective quality improvement study in “What happens to reporting when Bandemia becomes a critical alert?” in the January issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Their chart review examined the incidence of bandemia in two cohorts of ED patients, before and after the UMMC ED instituted its critical alert. (Am J Emerg Med. 2025 Jan;87:105-107. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2024.10.045. Epub 2024 Oct 28. PMID: 39541756.)


Instructor Rohit Menon, MD, and colleagues in the UMSOM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine authored “Skyrocketing troponin after a motor vehicle crash: a traumatic dilemma,” a case report illustrated with angiograms and intravascular ultrasound images and videos, published February 4 in the Journal of Invasive Cardiology.


Assistant Professor Jessica Downing, MD, and Associate Professor Quincy Tran, MD, PhD, are among the authors of “Rurality and Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke,” published in Critical Care Research and Practice. Analysis of 526 UMMC patients found that rural patients (who were transported over longer distances) and urban patients had similar odds of good neurologic outcome at 90 days after the procedure. (Crit Care Res Pract. 2025 Jan 30;2025:4995600. PMID: 39958465; PMCID: PMC11824784)


Professor Stephen Schenkel, MD, MPP, coauthored “Expanding Palliative Care Access ? Bridging Gaps in Diverse Clinical Settings” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2829290 (doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.24947) an editorial published February 18 in JAMA to accompany a report published in the same issue on a large cluster-randomized trial of palliative care interventions in the EDs of 29 hospitals. Dr. Schenkel serves as an associate editor of JAMA. 2025 Feb 18;333(7):574-575.


Posted 4/4/2025 by Eileen O'Brien

Dr. Wilkerson introduces WestJEM special issue

Associate Professor Gentry Wilkerson, MD, co-wrote “Substance Use and Addiction Disorders: A Call for Increased Screening and Treatment in the Emergency Department,” an editorial for the special issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. (West J Emerg Med. 2025 Jan;26(1.1):1-2. doi: 10.5811/westjem.41808)


Posted 3/31/2025 by Eileen O'Brien

Teaching ultrasound in the wilderness

Assistant Professor Alexis Salerno, MD, is the senior author of “Tele-Ultrasound in the Wilderness: A Tutorial Experience for Medical Students" published in the March issue of Wilderness Environmental Medicine (2025 Mar;36(1):97-103. Epub 2024 Nov 25.) Assistant Professor Doug Sward, MD, Professor Brian Euerle, MD, and former Assistant Professor Samantha King, MD, are among the article’s coauthors.


“Inflammatory responses to acute carbon monoxide poisoning and the role of plasma gelsolin” was published February 7 in Science Advances, the weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The article by Professor Stephen Thom, MD, PhD, Associate Professor Kinjal Sethuraman, MD, research team members Awadhesh Arya, Veena Bhopale, Abid Bhat, Alik Dakessian, and Zuha Imtiyaz, together with colleagues in the Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology & Public Health and two professors at the Wonju (Korea) College of Medicine, has been downloaded more than 1300 times in the first 6 weeks after publication. (Sci Adv. 2025 Feb 7;11(6):eado9751. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ado9751. PMID: 39919185; PMCID: PMC11804920)


Posted 2/12/2025 by Eileen O'Brien

Two journal publications from Dr. Tran and colleagues

Associate Professor Quincy K. Tran, MD, PhD, and Assistant Professor Jessica V. Downing, MD, are among the authors of two recent publications. “Metoprolol vs diltiazem for atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular rate: systematic review and meta-analysis of adverse events” appears in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2025; March 89:230-240. “Blood pressure variability and outcome predictors for traumatic brain injury patients with diffuse axonal injury: a retrospective cohort study” was published December 31 in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine.


Posted 2/10/2025 by Eileen O'Brien

EMCast gets a Top 30 rating

FeedSpot.com, which organizes and evaluates thousands of podcasts on hundreds of topics from around the world, ranks EMCast no. 5 – and no. 1 among medical podcasts – on its list of “30 Best 90 Minute Podcasts worth listening to in 2025.” EMCast is presented monthly and hosted by Professor Amal Mattu, MD, with many UMEM faculty participants.