Racial disparities in the SOFA score among patients hospitalized with COVID-19

BACKGROUND: Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score predicts probability of in-hospital mortality. Many crisis standards of care suggest the use of SOFA scores to allocate medical resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESEARCH QUESTION: Are SOFA scores elevated among Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients hospitalized with COVID-19, compared to Non-Hispanic White patients? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Retrospective cohort study conducted in Yale New Haven Health System, including 5 hospitals with total of 2681 beds. Study population drawn from consecutive patients aged ≥18 admitted with COVID-19 from March 29th to August 1st, 2020. Patients excluded from the analysis if not their first admission with COVID-19, if they did not have SOFA score recorded within 24 hours of admission, if race and ethnicity data were not Non-Hispanic Black, Non-Hispanic White, or Hispanic, or if they had other missing data. The primary outcome was SOFA score, with peak score within 24 hours of admission dichotomized as \u3c6 or ≥6. RESULTS: Of 2982 patients admitted with COVID-19, 2320 met inclusion criteria and were analyzed, of whom 1058 (45.6%) were Non-Hispanic White, 645 (27.8%) were Hispanic, and 617 (26.6%) were Non-Hispanic Black. Median age was 65.0 and 1226 (52.8%) were female. In univariate logistic screen and in full multivariate model, Non-Hispanic Black patients but not Hispanic patients had greater odds of an elevated SOFA score ≥6 when compared to Non-Hispanic White patients (OR 1.49, 95%CI 1.11-1.99). INTERPRETATION: Given current unequal patterns in social determinants of health, US crisis standards of care utilizing the SOFA score to allocate medical resources would be more likely to deny these resources to Non-Hispanic Black patients

Intimate partner violence screening during COVID-19.

ObjectivesEmergency Department (ED) screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) is typically nursing-initiated, often with visitors present. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen both an increase in societal stress, a known exacerbator of IPV, and the implementation of visitor restriction policies. This combination presents the need for enhanced IPV screening and the opportunity to perform screening in a controlled, patient-only environment. Our goal was to evaluate the frequency of nurse-initiated screening for IPV prior to and during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the frequency of positive screens for IPV.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study evaluating all adults (age >18 years) presenting to a tertiary care center ED. Patients were identified as presenting prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (June 1, 2019 to August 31, 2019) and after the COVID-19 visitor restriction policies (June 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020). Descriptive statistics were performed using chi-square and t-tests compared the demographic variables. Chi-square was used for a bivariate analysis of our primary outcomes (IPV screening performed and screening positive for IPV). Further analysis was done using a binary logistic regression model adjusting for the demographic characteristics.ResultsBoth the odds of nursing-initiated IPV screening and the odds of verbally screening positive for IPV significantly increased (OR 1.509, 95% CI 1.432-1.600) and (OR 1.375, 95% CI 1.126-1.681) respectively following the implementation of COVID-19 visitor restriction policies.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that nurse-initiated IPV screening should continue to be performed with the patient privately, even after COVID-19 related ED visitor restrictions are removed. These findings also support the hypothesis that the stress related to COVID-19 is contributing to a rise in IPV

Electronic Medical Records in low to middle income countries: The case of Khayelitsha Hospital, South Africa

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have shown benefit for clinical, organisational, and societal outcomes. In low-to-middle-income countries, the desire for EMRs will continue to rise as increasing trauma and infectious disease rates necessitate adequate record keeping for effective follow-up. 114 nations are currently working on national EMRs, with some using both a full EMR (Clinicom) and a paper-based system scanned to an online Enterprise Content Management (ECM) database. Methods: The authors sought to evaluate the ability and completeness of the EMR at Khayelitsha Hospital (KH) to capture all Emergency Centre (EC) encounters classified as trauma. Based on the high trauma rates in the Khayelitsha area and equally high referral rates from KH to higher-level trauma centres, an assumption was made that its rates would mirror nationwide estimates of 40% of EC visits. Records from July 2012 to June 2013 were examined. Results: 3488 patients visited the EC in the month of July 2012. 10% were noted as trauma on Clinicom and within their records were multiple sections with missing information. The remaining months of Aug 2012–June 2013 had an average trauma load of 8%. On further investigation, stacks of un-scanned patient folders were identified in the records department, contributing to the unavailability of records from January 2013 to the time of study (June 2013) on ECM. Conclusion: The results highlight difficulties with implementing a dual record system, as neither the full EMR nor ECM was able to accurately capture the estimated trauma load. Hospitals looking to employ such a system should ensure that sufficient funds are in place for adequate support, from supervision and training of staff to investment in infrastructure for efficient transfer of information. In the long run, efforts should be made to convert to a complete EMR to avoid the many pitfalls associated with handling paper records

Development of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Knowledge and Skills for Emergency Medicine Residents: Using the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestone Framework.

Objectives: Emergency medicine (EM) physicians commonly care for patients with serious life-limiting illness. Hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) is a subspecialty pathway of EM. Although a subspecialty level of practice requires additional training, primary-level skills of HPM such as effective communication and symptom management are part of routine clinical care and expected of EM residents. However, unlike EM residency curricula in disciplines like trauma and ultrasound, there is no nationally defined HPM curriculum for EM resident training. An expert consensus group was convened with the aim of defining content areas and competencies for HPM primary-level practice in the ED setting. Our overall objective was to develop HPM milestones within a competency framework that is relevant to the practice of EM. Methods: The American College of Emergency Physicians Palliative Medicine Section assembled a committee that included academic EM faculty, community EM physicians, EM residents, and nurses, all with interest and expertise in curricular design and palliative medicine. Results: The committee peer reviewed and assessed HPM content for validity and importance to EM residency training. A topic list was developed with three domains: provider skill set, clinical recognition of HPM needs, and logistic understanding related to HPM in the ED. The group also developed milestones in HPM-EM to identify relevant knowledge, skills, and behaviors using the framework modeled after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) EM milestones. This framework was chosen to make the product as user-friendly and familiar as possible to facilitate use by EM educators. Conclusions: Educators in EM residency programs now have access to HPM content areas and milestones relevant to EM practice that can be used for curriculum development in EM residency programs. The HPM-EM skills/competencies presented herein are structured in a familiar milestone framework that is modeled after the widely accepted ACGME EM milestones

Miscarriage determination in first trimester based on alpha-fetoprotein extracted from sanitary pads

Objective: To determine if high alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level in vaginal blood collected on a sanitary pad can assist with detecting an active miscarriage. Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: Academic medical center. Patient(s): Five groups were evaluated: women with active miscarriage, pregnancy of unknown location, completed miscarriage or extrauterine pregnancy (EUP), ongoing pregnancy, and undergoing elective dilation and curettage (DEtC). Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): For each patient, AFP level in the vaginal blood collected on a sanitary pad was quantified. Result(s): The vaginal blood AFP median levels (and their ranges) were 3.7 IU/mL (0.5-739.2) and 4,542 IU/mL (15.6-100,000) in the active miscarriage (n = 16) and the elective DEW (n = 24) groups, respectively. Alpha-fetoprotein was detected in all elective DEtC and active miscarriage cases except in 1 case. In the ongoing pregnancy group (n = 35), only 2 of 35 specimens showed detectable AFP levels. In the pregnancy of unknown location (n = 12) and the completed miscarriage or EUP (n = 10) groups, no AFP was detected. Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated 93.7010 sensitivity and 97.8% specificity for the detection of an active miscarriage (cutoff 0.61 IU/mL; area under the curve 0.96). Conclusion(s): Alpha-fetoprotein can be extracted from vaginal blood collected on sanitary pads. A high level of vaginal AFP can assist with the same-day detection of an active miscarriage. This novel test is useful in differentiating active miscarriages from ongoing pregnancies, completed miscarriages, and EUPs and, therefore, it reduces uncertainty, anxiety level, and number of repeat office visits. (C) 2020 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine

Mapping the Future for Research in Emergency Medicine Palliative Care: A Research Roadmap

BACKGROUND: The intersection of Emergency Medicine (EM) and Palliative Care (PC) has been recognized as an essential area of focus, with evidence suggesting that increased integration improves outcomes. This has resulted in increased research in EM PC. No current framework exists to help guide investigation and innovation. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to convene a working group to develop a roadmap that would help provide focus and prioritization for future research. METHODS: Participants were identified based on clinical, operation, policy and research expertise in both EM and PC, and spanned physician, nursing, social work and patient perspectives. The research roadmap setting process consisted of three distinct phases that were time staggered over 12 months, and facilitated through three live video convenings, asynchronous input via an online document, and a series of smaller video convenings of workgroups focused on specific topics. RESULTS: Gaps in the literature were identified and informed the four key areas for future research. Consensus was reached on these domains and the associated research questions in each domain to help guide future study. The key domains included work focused on the value imperative for PC in the Emergency setting, models of care delivery, disparities, and measurement of impact and efficacy. Additionally, the group identified key methodological considerations for doing work at the intersection of EM and PC. CONCLUSION: There are several key domains and associated questions that can help guide future research in ED PC. Focus on these areas, and answering these questions, offers the potential to improve the emergency care of patients with palliative care needs