Department Blog

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, is a site principal investigator for two recently funded studies. As a subcontractor on an award received by Johns Hopkins University from the Health Resources and Services Administration, Dr. Hirshon will participate in the development and testing of a triage tool that will assist EMS personnel with transport decisions for sick and injured children. The project is intended to elucidate reasons for secondary transports of pediatric patients and thus decrease their frequency. He is also a subcontractor on a study funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, through which he will collect data that will be used to assess quality of care and patient safety at dialysis centers.

Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, Thomas Scalea, MD, Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, and Gordon Smith, MBChB, MPH, published the article titled “Alcohol Consumption Decreases Lactate Clearance in Acutely Injured Patients” in the September issue of the journal Injury. Based on their study involving 3910 trauma patients, the investigators concluded that having alcohol “on board” decreases lactate clearance in a dose-dependent manner. They surmised that the effect is caused by diversion of metabolites needed for the conversion of lactate to pyruvate in the alcohol metabolic pathway. This work was supported by a Resident Research Grant from the Maryland Emergency Medicine Network.

Mak Moayedi, MD, and Lisa Babin, BS, a 2016 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, published a case report, “Pneumorrhachis Secondary to a Sacral Decubitus Ulcer,” in the July issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. It describes the rare finding of gas in the spinal canal, produced as direct extension from organisms causing vertebral osteomyelitis.

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, collaborated with colleagues from the University of California, Irvine, on the article titled “Zika Virus: Critical Information for Emergency Providers,” published in Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America this month. The article reviews transmission patterns, clinical presentation, diagnostic procedures, implications for mass gatherings (including the Olympics), and management strategies for an infection for which antiviral therapy has not yet been developed.

Michael Bond, MD, and Mike Abraham, MD, with Jason Brown, MD, and Stephen Shaheen, MD, recent residency graduates, published “The Orthopedic Literature 2015” in the August issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The authors reviewed and summarized articles on the topics of acute compartment syndrome, scaphoid and clavicular fractures, ankle injuries, hip fractures in the elderly, and sports medicine.

Michael Bond, MD, director of our residency program, collaborated with James Ahn, MD, and P. Charles Inboriboon, MD, associate residency directors at the University of Chicago and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, respectively, on the article titled “Podcasts: Accessing, Choosing, Creating, and Disseminating Content,” published in the July issue of the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. 

Several emergency medicine faculty members contributed to the article titled “The Impact of a Freestanding ED on a Regional Emergency Medical Services System,” published in the August issue of American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The authors report that the opening of the Shore Emergency Center in Queenstown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore decreased ambulance turnaround time and out-of-service intervals. The contributors from the Department of Emergency Medicine are Benjamin Lawner, DO, MS, EMT-P, Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, PhD, Laura Pimentel, MD, Christina L. Tupe, MD, and Brian Browne, MD. They collaborated with Angela C. Comer, MPH (National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems), J.V. Nable, MD, MS, NRP (Georgetown University School of Medicine), Jeffrey Kelly, MS, NREMT-P (Maryland State Police), Richard Alcorta, MD (MIEMSS), and Mary Alice Vanhoy, RN, MSN, University of Maryland Shore Emergency Center.

Two students at the University of Maryland School of Medicine spent several weeks in Rocky Mountain National Park last summer, talking with backcountry hikers about their ability to avoid emergencies and their preparedness in case one occurs. Using a written survey, Michael Yue, BA, MS-2, and David Spivey, BA, MS-3, collected information from 379 hikers. Michael presented the results as a poster, “Rocky Mountain National Park Hiker Preparedness Survey: Does Wilderness Medicine Training Correlate with Preparedness for Injury and Altitude Illness?,” at the 7th World Congress of Mountain & Wilderness Medicine, held in Telluride, Colorado, last week. Their faculty advisors and collaborators were Daniel Gingold, MD, MPH, and Douglas Sward, MD

Chrissie Tupe, MD, and Mike McCurdy, MD, published a case report  (“A Fatal Case of Eczema Herpeticum with Septic Shock Due to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus”) in the July issue of the American Journal of Critical Care. In collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Medicine, they describe the clinical challenges presented by an immunocompromised woman whose undifferentiated rash became complicated by scabies, herpes simplex virus infection, and MRSA. 

Zach Dezman, MD, MS, and  Sarah Sommerkamp, MD, RDMS, published a case report titled “A Woman with Vaginal Bleeding and an Intrauterine Device” in the July issue of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. Their patient, who was pregnant despite her use of an IUD, was found to have a bicornuate uterus.