Department Blog

Our department is once again well represented on the pages of Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America. The November issue, on the topic of critical care, was co-edited by Haney Mallemat, MD. Articles were contribued by Drs. David Wacker and Mike Winters ("Shock"), Dr. Michael Scott with Dr. Mallemat ("Assessing Volume Status"), Drs. Kim Boswell and Jay Menaker ("Assessment and Treatment of the Trauma Patient in Shock"), Drs. John Greenwood and Dan Herr ("Mechanical Support"), and Dr. Wendy Chang ("Neurotrauma"). Dr. Mallemat's co-editor on this project was Evie Marcolini, MD, formerly a member of our faculty and now on the emergency medicine and neurosurgery faculties at Yale University. Dr. Amal Mattu serves as the consulting editor for the Clinics series.

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, is a co-author of the article titled "Using Antibiograms to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing in Skilled Nursing Facilities," published in the October issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

Ben Lawner, DO, MS, EMT-P, was a faculty member for the 2014 EMS Symposium sponsored by the Virginia Department of Health and held in Norfolk in early November. He presented a lecture titled "Avoiding Common Prehospital Errors: Don't Bury Your Mistakes!" and presented two workshops on 12-lead ECG interpretation. The symposium was attended by over 1500 providers from across the commonwealth.

The article on electrical exposure risk during hands-on defibrillation, by Drs. Dan Lemkin, Michael Witting, Michael Allison, Ali Farzad, Michael Bond, and Mark Lemkin, has been named the Artice of the Month by the journal Resuscitation. The article reports measurements of voltages received during CPR techniques applied to cadavers. The authors concluded that rescuers are at risk of exposure to energy levels higher than accepted standards when a defibrillator is used and therefore recommend that rescuers “disconnect” from a patient when a shock is delivered.

Dr. Amal Mattu's newest book, Cardiovascular Emergencies, has been published by the American College of Emergency Physicians. The 21 chapters in this textbook discuss the cardiovascular conditions commonly encountered in the emergency department, “hot topics” such as bedside echocardiography and post-arrest care, and special populations (patients with cancer, HIV, pulmonary hypertension, and implanted devices; pregnant women; and transplant recipients). The concluding chapter discusses risk-management strategies in clinical practice. Chapters were contributed by EM faculty members John Greenwood, MD, Siamak Moayedi, MD, Semhar Tewelde, MD, Mercedes Torres, MD, amd Michael Winters, MD. The manuscripts were copyedited by Linda Kesselring, MS, ELS, our department's technical editor and writer.

Congratulations to Drs. J.V. Nable, John Greenwood, Mike Abraham, Michael Bond, and Mike Winters, whose article titled "Implementation of a Team-Based Physician Staffing Model at an Academic Emergency Department" was pubished in the September issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Amal Mattu, MD, was the Grand Rounds lecturer at the University of South Florida on August 28. He presented "Everyday Leadership: Secrets of Great Minds Through the Ages" for the emergency medicine program and: "Low Risk Chest Pain: Mythology, Mortality, and Malpractice" for the internal medicine program.

Bryan Hayes, PharmD, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology. This highest level of peer recognition within the organization acknowledges longstanding commitment to the field of toxicology and to the Academy.

Laura Pimentel, MD, is a co-author of a commentary titled "The Maryland Medicare Waiver and Emergency Care: Mixed Experiences Deserve Close Scrutiny." The article was published in the American Journal of Medical Qualiity. Dr. Pimentel collaborated with Drs. Jesse Pines and Steven Farmer, from George Washington University, on this publication.

The 2015 LLSA Reading List includes an article by Dr. Sarah Sommerkamp and Dr. Alisa Gibson, titled "Cardiovascular Disasters in Pregnancy." It was published in the November 2012 issue of Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America. The reading list has been posted on our intranet.