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The topic for Journal Club on August 4, 2010 was STEMI. We started by reviewing the history behind the current treatment of MI patients. Then we talked briefly about the FDNY Protocols, which include notifying the receiving hospital of an inbound STEMI pt & faxing a copy of the EKG to that hospital. 

Then we discussed the background article entitled “Emergency Department Activation of an Interventional Cardiology Team Reduces Door-to Balloon Times in ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction”. This was a study led by Dr Singer out of Stony Brook University.  It was a before-and-after trial in a suburban academic medical center with 500 beds and 75,000 annual ED visits to compare DTB times in pts w/STEMI before and after implementation of a “code H” protocol.  They used a consecutive sample of pts presenting to the ED with EKG and clinical evidence of STEMI within 30 minutes of arrival during 2 similar 24-month periods, before and after implementation of the code H protocol.  This protocol included:  1) EPs activating the cath lab via a single call to a central page operator, 2) ED activating the cath lab while the pt is en route to the hospital, 3) Expecting the cath lab staff to arrive within 20 minutes, & 4) Having ED and cath lab staff use real-time data feedback.  The primary outcome was door-to-balloon (DTB) time. They had 97 total pts, 43 before and 54 after the implementation of the code H protocol.  Implementation of the code H protocol reduced the median DTB time by 68 min (p<.001) and increased the proportion of pts undergoing PCI within 90 minutes from 2.8% to 29%.  If you look at it in terms of risk of missing the 90-min D2B mark, the absolute risk reduction (ARR) was 26% and you’d need to treat (NNT) 3.85 pts under “Code H” to expect one more makes it in under 90 min.  They concluded that “the greatest opportunity for improvement is in reducing the time from cardiology arrival to the bedside and initiation of the percutaneous coronary intervention. Equally important is the need to engage all health care providers involved in the treatment of patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction.”

The 2^nd paper, entitled “Impact of the Prehospital ECG on Door-to-Balloon Time in ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction”by Rao, et al. out of SE Michigan was a prospective, observational study conducted in 3 hospitals from Oct 2003-April 2008.  (They had no conflicts of interest.) During the trial, EMS 12L EKGs were transmitted to the ED & the cath lab was activated “as soon as the ED physician diagnosed STEMI”.  The control group included all patients who came to the ED during the same time period via EMS w/o prehospital EKGs or as walk-ins.  The primary endpoint was DTB time and secondary endpoints included time of admission, cardiac risk factors, LOS (length of stay), and infarct-related arteries.  They found that pts who had a prehospital ECG had a mean DTB time of 60.2 minutes, compared to 90.5 minutes in pts with in-hospital ECGs.(ARR=30%, NNT=3.33pts).  No pts in the prehospital ECG group died but there was a 2% mortality rate in the control group. 

Some questions we asked about this study included:

• 3 centers with different time periods (Hospital A had 386 pts between 10/03 & 4/08 but only 18 prehospital ECGs. Hospitals B&C had 89 & 134 pts, respectively, between 3/07 & 4/08, with 40 & 50 prehospital ECGs, respectively.)
• Why did hospital A have 386 pts but only 18 w/ prehospital ECGs?
• W hy were hospitals B&C only involved at the end of the study?
• They did not reveal enough data about their control pts. Were they STEMI pts?  Did they have chest pain or CP equivalent symptoms? Etc.
• ~50% of pts had a R-sided MI, which seems like a high number.  However, they had no deaths in the prehospital group but the majority of pts had non-LAD lesions, which speaks well of their data.
• They concluded there were no differences in LOS between the groups, yet the in-hospital deaths had LOS of 3.5 days +/- 3.2 (i.e. ~0-7 days), which seems like a wide range.
• There was a significant difference in the data of African American pts, which they attributed to these mostly being seen at an inner-city hospital which didn’t get a machine to receive EMS ECGs until late in the study. However, they did not show age- & race-matched data sets to account for these differences.

The final paper by Steg et al. out of France (cardiologists who are affiliated with Sanofi-Aventis) was entitled “Bypassing the Emergency Room Reduces Delays and Mortality in ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction: the USIC 2000 Registry”.  This registry was a prospective registry of all pts admitted to ICUs in France for AMI by the end of 2000.  The study included all consecutive pts admitted from November 1-30, 2000 with a confirmed diagnosis of STEMI who were admitted within 12 hours of the onset of symptoms. 1204 of 1922 pts met criteria for inclusion in the study. Of these, 66.9% were admitted directly to the CCU or cath lab, as mobile ICUs in France are staffed by physicians who decide where the pt goes.  33.1% were admitted via the ED & these pts were sicker based on TIMI score & Killip Class. 787 pts (65.4%) received reperfusion, including primary PCI and thrombolysis (both prehospital & in hospital).  All-cause mortality at day 5 was 4.9% in pts admitted directly to CCU and 8.6% in those admitted via the ED.  (ARR=3.7%, NNT=27pts) More ED pts (35%) received lytics and they received them later than the 30% of CCU pts who received them. However, the authors did not account for this in their results.

Some issues that came up in discussing this study:

•  The French EMS system is different from the US system (ED MDs on Mobile ICUs)
• Conflicts of interest (Sanofi)
• Only ran study for 1 month. Why that one?
•  Data from 2000, before we knew lytics prior to PCI was bad.
• Didn’t explain why pts went to ED vs CCU
• Some pts went directly to the cath lab but had no PCI, which wasn’t explained.
• They also didn’t explain why the mortality was so much higher than we would expect.

They concluded that “bypassing the ER was associated with an apparent substantial survival benefit at both five days and one year compared with patients admitted via the ER. These findings of shorter delays and improved survival suggest that pathways should be established for patients with STEMI to bypass the ER.”  However, was it really the ER that was the problem, or was it a delay in treatment?

In conclusion, as stated in the Singer article, “to be successful at reducing door-to-balloon times, we must develop strategies that reduce all the intervals that make up the process of treating patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction. Thus, the best-performing hospitals have improved each of the key components that make up the overall process of care, including door-to-ECG, ECG-to-laboratory, and laboratory-to-balloon times.”

Please join us for conference this Wednesday in the 8th floor conference room at Elmhurst.

9a - Journal Club - Dr. Fasina, articles below
10a - Interesting Cases in Pediatrics - Dr. Caglar
1045a - Perspectives on Community Practice - Dr. Kwun
11a - Trauma Conference - Dr. Weingart
12p - M&M - Dr. Galjour
1p - US Case of the Month - Dr. Mok
130p - The Organizational World of Emergency Clinicians - Dr. Nugus

Abiola has chosen three articles and requests that everyone comes prepared.
Residents as usual the journal articles are behind the normal logon and password.
Everyone should read: McCormack et al. Can CTA of the brain replace LP in the evaluation of acute onset Headache after a negative noncontrast CT scan?Paper.

PGY1 and 2: Perry et al. Is the combination of negative CT result and negative LP sufficient to rule out SAH? Annals of Emergency Medicine2008; 51: 707-713. Paper.
PGY3 and 4: Baraff et al. Prevalence of herniation and intracranial shift on CT in patients with SAH and a normal neuro exam? Academic emergency Medicine 2010; 17:423-428. Paper.

As usual, lunch will be served.

Please join us for conference this Wednesday at Elmhurst in the 8th floor conference room. We begin the day with Journal Club, so please come prepared!

9a - Journal Club - Dr. Trivedi - articles below
10a - Procedure Lecture - Dr. Fawaz
1030a - US Case of the Month - Dr. Roddy
11a - Trauma Conference - Dr. Weingart
12p - M&M - Dr. Nite
1p - Finance 101 - Dr. Shah

Shefali has chosen 2 articles to review and requests that everyone comes prepared.Residents as usual the journal articles are behind the normal logon and password.
PGY3s and 4s: Sturm et al. Ondansetron use in the Pediatric Emergency Department and effects on hospitalization and return rates. Are we masking alternative diagnoses? Annals Emerg Med 2009. Paper.
PGY1s and 2s: Braude et al. Antiemetics in the ED: a randomized control trial comparing 3 common agents AJEM 2006;24:177-182. Paper.

Please join us for conference this Wednesday in the 8th floor conference room at Elmhurst. We begin the day with Journal Club - please be prepared!

9a - Journal Club - Dr. Vashi (links below)
10a - Interesting Case Conference - Dr. Sarohia
11a - Trauma Conference - Dr. Weingart
12p - Joint Commission Update - Dr. Halbach
1p - M&M - Dr. Green

Anita has chosen 3 articles to review and requests that everyone comes prepared.
Residents as usual the journal articles are behind the normal logon and password.

PGY1s and 2s: Reed et al. The ROSE (Risk Stratification of Syncope in the Emergency Department) Study J ACC 2010;55(8):713-721. Paper.

PGY3s and 4s: Del Rosso et al. Clinical Predictors of Cardiac Syncope at Initial Evaluation in Patients Referred Urgently to a General Hospital: the EGSYS Score Heart. 2008;94:1620-26. Paper.

All: McGinn et al. User’s Guide to the Medical Literature XXII:How to Use Articles About Clinical Decision Rules JAMA. 2000;284(1):79-84. Paper.

Please join us for conference on February 3rd in the 8th floor conference room at Elmhurst. The day begins with journal club - please come prepared!!

9a - Journal Club - Curtis (see articles below)
10a - Procedure Talk - Chiang
1030a - US Case of the Month - Chisolm-Straker
11a - Trauma Conference - Weingart
12p - M&M - Pleasant

Henry has chosen 3 articles to review and requests that everyone comes prepared.Residents as usual the journal articles are behind the normal logon and password.
PGY1s and 2s: Claassen et al. Criminal correlates of injury-related Emergency Department recidivism J Emerg Med. 2007;32(2):141-47. Paper.
PGY3s and 4s: Abbass et al. Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy to reduce rates of emergency department return visits for patients with medically unexplained symptoms: preliminary evidence from a pre-post intervention study CJEM. 2009;11(6):529-34. Paper.
All: Lerner and Kobernick. Return visits to the emergency department. J Emerg Med. 1987,59:359-62. Paper.

Thanks to Alan for his look at the utility of FAST exams, incorporating a pioneering study of FAST as well as some more recent work. The three papers he picked are below:

• Rozycki et al. Surgeon-Performed Ultrasound for the Assessment of Truncal Injuries: Lessons Learned From 1540 Patients Ann Surg. 1998;228(4):557-67.
• Miller et al. Not so Fast J Trauma. 2003;54:52–60.
• Schnuriger et al. The accuracy of FAST in relation to grade of solid organ injuries: A retrospective analysis of 226 trauma patients with liver or splenic lesion. BMC Medical Imaging 2009, 9:3.

For a review of these papers, and some resources for FAST, see below!

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Please join us for conference on January 6th in the 8th floor conference room at Elmhurst. The day begins with journal club - please come prepared!!
9a - Journal Club - Huang (see articles below)
10a - Procedure Talk - Trivedi
1030a - US Case of the Month - LaCalle
11a - Trauma Conference - Weingart
12p - M&M - Asaad

Alan has chosen 3 articles to review and requests that everyone comes prepared. Residents as usual the journal articles are behind the normal logon and password.
All: Rozycki et al. Surgeon-Performed Ultrasound for the Assessment of Truncal Injuries: Lessons Learned From 1540 Patients Ann Surg. 1998;228(4):557-67. Paper.
Miller et al. Not so Fast J Trauma. 2003;54:52–60. Paper.
Schnuriger et al. The accuracy of FAST in relation to grade of solid organ injuries: A retrospective analysis of 226 trauma patients with liver or splenic lesion. BMC Medical Imaging 2009, 9:3. Paper.

Kudos to Dan for his thoughtful analysis of three papers highlighting aspects of agitation management in the emergency department.

Take-home points from Journal Club this week:

* 5mg of midazolam (versed) was significantly faster at causing sedation in violently agitated patients at a large academic ED, compared to 5mg of haldol and 2mg of lorazepam (ativan). Patients getting midazolam also had significantly faster times to recover from sedation, also the least incidence of sedation failure.

* Droperidol has an FDA black box warning for QT prolongation leading to torsades de pointes and death. While the association between droperidol use and QT prolongation is clear, the risk of sudden cardiac death as caused by droperidol is much less clear. Many centers still use droperidol to good effect; an ECG after administration and prior to discharge is strongly recommended (and, if possible, prior to use).

* In treating behavioral emergencies, the accepted and endorsed practice in this country is to confront the violent or uncooperative patient with a ‘show of force’ to obtain consent, and if that fails, forcible medication ensues. Covert administration of meds, while maybe expedient or supported by the patient’s family, threatens the therapeutic alliance and exposes the institution to liability and the practitioner to claims of criminal battery. There exists an opportunity for further study and policymaking, both within our institution and beyond.

An in-depth discuss of the three papers awaits you, below.

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Please join us for conference this Wednesday in the 8th floor conference room at Elmhurst. Please note the early start time for cardiology conference and don’t forget to come prepared for Journal Club.

8a - Joint Cardiology Conference - Dr. Young Yoon
9a - Toxicology Lecture - Dr. Ruben Olmedo
10a - Neck Trauma - Dr. Kaushal Shah
11a - Journal Club - Dr. Daniel Fawaz.

Residents you can find the journal club articles behind the usual logon/password. Dan has chosen 3 different articles to review and requests that each class come prepared. Read the Lewin article and the article assigned for your class.

All: Lewin et al. An Unusual Case of Subterfuge in the Emergency Department: Covert Administration of Antipsychotic and Anxiolytic Medications to Control an Agitated Patient. Ann Emerg Med. 2006;47:75-78. Paper.

PGY1s and 2s: Kao et al. Droperidol, QT Prolongation, and Sudden Death: What Is the Evidence? Ann Emerg Med 2003;41(4):546-58.Paper.

PGY3s ad 4s: Nobay et al. A Prospective, Double-blind, Randomized Trial of Midazolam versus Haloperidol versus Lorazepam in the Chemical Restraint of Violent and Severely Agitated Patients. Acad Emerg Med 2004;(11)7:744-9.Paper.