Department Blog - April 2017

Laura J. Bontempo, MD, MEd, published “Family Medical History” in the Reflections column of Academic Emergency Medicine (24[2]:254-255, February 2017). In this pensive essay, Dr. Bontempo examines the impact of a question asked by many practitioners during their initial assessment of a patient. Routine inquiry into the family’s medical history becomes much less routine when heard from the patient's point of view.

Amani Mahdi, MD, MBBS, former emergency medicine research fellow, published "Pain Management in Vaso-occlusive Sickle Cell Crisis" in EMResident this month. Her article is available at www.emresident.org/sickle-cell-crisis/.

The American College of Emergency Physicians has issued a new policy on the diagnosis and management of adult psychiatric patients in EDs, available in the April issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine (69[4]:480-498). Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, is a member of ACEP's Clinical Policies Committee, which oversaw the development of the document.

Doug Sward, MD, presented a workshop during the Wilderness and Disaster Medicine course at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in early March. Titled “Search and Rescue: Initial Tasks and Reflex Actions,” his didactic presentation reviewed lost-person behavior and its application to rescue missions and was followed by a hands-on exercise that asked students to develop a search strategy using a topographic map. The 2-week course encourages students to improvise under austere conditions and prepares them to respond to emergencies in wilderness settings as well as disaster scenarios. A Wall Street Journal article about the course can be read here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/latest-medical-school-trend-wilderness-training-1490097604?emailToken=JRryd/96aHqXgdY1b8w43UEldbVNDuKFR1jeKDXRMUjLs3iQvfiswalwmNqzrW61Q0th/JUY9Wc+QzzXjy8zAJ7Jw+8gzw/4