Department Blog - April 2020

Jason Adler, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, lectured on “CMS Proposed Changes and Potential Impacts to Emergency Medicine” and took part in a panel discussion about the changing market forces in emergency medicine at the annual Emergency Medicine Reimbursement and Innovation Summit hosted by the Florida College of Emergency Physicians February 27–28, 2020, in Orlando.

Zachary Dezman, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was awarded a one-year, $30,000 grant from the University of Maryland, Baltimore Institute for Clinical and Translational Research’s Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot Grant Program for his project, “Healthcare Utilization of Violence-Related Injury in the State of Maryland.”

Ken Butler, DO, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was featured in the February 18, 2020, episode, “Roc vs. Sux – The CURASMUR Trial” (full audio and companion handout with paid subscription) of the twice-monthly podcast, Critical Care Perspectives in Emergency Medicine. Mike Winters, MD, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was also among the discussants.

Joe Martinez, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was appointed Associate Dean for Medical Education and Student Experience for the University of Maryland School of Medicine on February 1, 2020.

Michael Bond, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was elected as a Member-at-Large to the Board of Directors of the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine in February 2020. He will serve in this position for two years.

Angela Smedley, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and UMMC Clinical Director was featured in “Maryland Doctors Sound the Alarm After Seeing Drop in Heart Attacks and Strokes Amid Coronavirus Pandemic” (full text available), a Baltimore Sun article published April 20, 2020.

Kyle Fischer, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, and Laura Bontempo, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, were featured in “A Day Fighting the Coronavirus: US Hospital Staff Share Hardest Moments on Shift” (full text available), a Reuters/ABCNews article published April 15, 2020.

Mimi Lu, MD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, presented her lecture “Pediatric DKA [Diabetic Ketoacidosis]: Not Just Little People With Hyperglycemia” at the Maryland chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians annual education and business meeting on March 12, 2020.

Sarah Dubbs, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, lectured on “Hidden Dangers: Cardiotoxicities of Cancer Drugs” at the Maryland chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians annual education and business meeting on March 12, 2020.

Michael Grasso, MD, PhD, FACP, Assistant Professor, hosted an online talk on February 11, 2020, about using CRISP (Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients, Maryland’s health information exchange) for clinical decision support activities, including prescription drug monitoring and overdose notification.

Ryan Spangler, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, directed a new Multisystem course, a School of Medicine interdepartmental collaboration, the week ending February 7, 2020. More than a dozen other faculty members from the Department of Emergency Medicine also participated in teaching the three-day course:

• Associate Professors Brian Euerle, MD, FACEP, RDMS, and Joe Martinez, MD
• Assistant Professors Michael Billet, MD, WanTsu Wendy Chang, MD, Daa'iyah Cooper, MD, Ashley Crimmins, MD, Dan Gingold, MD, MPH, Sara Manning, MD, Alexis Salerno, MD, Kinjal Sethuraman, MD, MPH, Sarah Sommerkamp, MD, Semhar Tewelde, MD, George Willis, MD, and Andy Windsor, MD
• Instructor Afrah Abdul Wahid Ali, MBBS
• Clinical Instructor Kevin Flanagan, DO

Kyle Fischer, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was first author of “Prevention Professional for Violence Intervention: A Newly Recognized Health Care Provider for Population Health Programs” (full text available), which was published in Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved on February 7, 2020.

Jason Adler, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was the lead author of “More Medical Innovation, Less Regulation” (full text available), published in City Journal on April 9, 2020.

In the face of restrictions put in place to spread the slow of COVID-19, the Department of Emergency Medicine pivoted to present its annual Emergency Cardiology Symposium as a livestream on April 1, 2020. More than 3,500 people from 87 countries registered to watch the conference. Presentation videos and PDF handouts are linked below:

• Laura Bontempo, MD, Associate Professor, on “Rethinking What We Know: Updates on the Management of Atrial Fibrillation” (handout)
• Sarah Dubbs, MD, Assistant Professor, on “Collateral Damage: Cardiotoxicities of Cancer Therapy” (handouts part 1 and part 2)
• Mimi Lu, MD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, on “ECG Pearls for Pediatric Syncope”
• Mike Winters, MD, Professor, on “Cardiac Arrest: What’s the Latest” (handout)
• Ben Lawner, DO, EMT-P, Visiting Assistant Professor, on “Airway Management in Cardiac Arrest” (handout)
• Mak Moayedi, MD, CDEM, Assistant Professor, on “Transvenous Pacers Made Easy!” (handout)
• Semhar Tewelde, MD, Assistant Professor, on “The Crashing Tamponade!” (handout)
• Amal Mattu, MD, Professor, who also directed the symposium, on “COVID and the Heart” (handout)

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAAEM, FACPM, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was recently nterviewed for two Business Insider articles on the novel coronavirus:

• “Hospitals Are Stockpiling Supplies Amid Fears a Coronavirus-Related Mask Shortage Could Endanger Healthcare Providers,” published February 10, 2020
• “Workers on the Front Lines of Coronavirus Response at 6 US Hospitals Reveal What They Do When a Suspected Case Comes in,” published February 11, 2020

David Marcozzi, MD, Associate Professor; Nicki Baehr, Healthcare Program Analyst; and Brian Browne, MD, FACEP, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, were among the authors of “Development of a Hospital Medical Surge Preparedness Index Using a National Hospital Survey” (abstract available), which was published in Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology on February 14, 2020.

Mike Winters, MD, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was among the discussants in the March 5 "COVID-19 Update" episode of the twice-monthly podcast, Critical Care Perspectives in Emergency Medicine. Full audio, along with a companion handout, is available to paid subscribers.

Elizabeth Clayborne, MD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was featured in a story by NBC Washington, “Pregnant ER Doctor Treating Coronavirus Patients Urges People to Make a Care Plan” (full text, audio, and video available), published April 6, 2020.

The National Institutes of Health has a good overview of advance care planning and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization offers links to state-specific advance directive forms.

Mike Winters, MD, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was among the discussants in the twice-monthly podcast, Critical Care Perspectives in Emergency Medicine, episode “Critical Care Management COVID-19 Update – March 30, 2020,” published April 2, 2020. Full audio, along with a companion handout, is available to paid subscribers.

Amal Mattu, MD, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, is co-editor in chief of the online emergency medicine textbook CorePendium, which recently published a new open-access chapter on “Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).” The chapter is being continually updated and was accessed 40,061 times by 25,921 individuals around the world in the month of March alone.

Mike Winters, MD, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was among the discussants in the twice-monthly podcast, Critical Care Perspectives in Emergency Medicine, episode “Identifying and Treating EVALI [E-cigarette or Vaping product use-Associated Lung Injury],” published February 4, 2020. Full audio, along with a companion handout, is available to paid subscribers.

Rupal Jain, MD, Clinical Instructor, Department of Emergency Medicine, was selected by the medical students to be inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society, for her excellence in teaching. Her induction took place March 26, 2020.