Department Blog - November 2017

Seven emergency medicine faculty members were invited speakers at the 2017 Scientific Assembly of the American College of Emergency Physicians, held in Washington, DC, in October. Their topics are listed below:

Michael Winters, MD
• Cruising the Literature: Top Articles in Critical Care
• The ICU is NOT Ready for Your Patient
• Undifferentiated Shock...Making a Difference
George Willis, MD
• Baked Beans: Considerations in AKI & ESRD
• Glands Gone Bad: Endocrine Emergencies
• Aortic Dissection: Are You Missing the Diagnosis?
Amal Mattu, MD
• From Paper to Patient: Recent Advances in Emergency Electrocardiography That Will Save a Life
• Myocardial Ischemia and Mimics: ECG Cases (2-hour workshop)
• Dysrhythmias and Syncope
• Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: Time-Critical Interventions
Mimi Lu, MD
• Pediatric Chest Pain and Syncope: Bad or Benign
• Pediatric DKA: Not Just Little People With Hyperglycemia
Elizabeth Clayborne, MD, MA
• InnovatED: Palliative Care Simulation
Wan-Tsu Wendy Chang, MD
• Cranial Nerves: When Is It an Emergency?
• Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On: Update on Seizure and Status Management
• 50 Shades of Gray Matter: Neuroimaging in the ED
Michael Bond, MD
• What's the Big Deal with FOAMed?
• Fast Facts: Must-Know Digital Health for Emergency Physicians

Michael Grasso, MD, PhD, and David Jerrard, MD, in collaboration with Clare Grasso, PhD, from UMBC’s Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, co-authored the article titled "Prescriptions Written for Opioid Pain Medication in the Veterans Health Administration Between 2000 and 2016," which was published in the November/December issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine (2017;11[6]:483-8). The investigators used a national cohort that documented 2.5 billion outpatient visits, 18.9 million ED visits, and 12.4 million hospital admissions. The number of opioid prescriptions peaked in 2011, when they were written during 5% of outpatient visits and 15% of ED visits. By 2016, opioid prescriptions were down 37% in outpatient clinics and 23% in EDs. Prescriptions for hydrocodone and tramadol increased markedly between 2011 and 2015. Opioid doses in inpatients settings rose until 2015.

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, has been elected to a second 3-year term on the Board of Directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine, with approximately 38,000 members. The organization is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research, and public education.

George Willis, MD, our department's Director of Undergraduate Medical Education, is the 2017 recipient of the National Junior Faculty Educator of the Year Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians*. The award was presented at the organization’s Scientific Assembly, held in Washington, DC, in October.*

Amal Mattu, MD, co-authored the article titled “How Do We Balance the Long-Term Health of a Patient with the Short-Term Risk to the Physician?,” published in the October issue of The Journal of Emergency Medicine (2017;53:583-585). His collaborators in this consideration of the evaluation, disposition, and outcomes of patients with low-risk chest pain were Michael Weinstock, MD, from Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, and Erik Hess, MD, MSC, from the Mayo Clinic.

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, is the principal investigator of “Wound Fluid as Regulator for Extracellular Matrix Remodeling and Recurrence in Inflammatory Breast Cancer,” a study funded by the Fogarty International Center at NIH in the amount of $322,060. The purpose of this project is to seek biological factors in wound fluid that foster dissemination of carcinoma cells throughout the body, making the disease resistant to radiation and chemotherapy. The research will be conducted by faculty members at Cairo University and Ain Shams University in Egypt, working in collaboration with Dr. Hirshon as well as colleagues at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The study period began in September 2017 and extends to mid-2019.