Faculty Bibliography

INTRODUCTION/UNASSIGNED:Changes in the commercialization of nonprescription drugs have made large quantities of paracetamol available to individuals, resulting in larger overdoses than previously observed. Although most patients with paracetamol overdose can be managed with acetylcysteine, patients with a massive overdose may become critically ill earlier and fail standard antidotal therapy. Several strategies are proposed for the management of these patients, including using increased doses of acetylcysteine, extracorporeal removal, and fomepizole. However, the benefits of these strategies remain largely theoretical, with sparse evidence for efficacy in humans. METHODS/UNASSIGNED:This cross-sectional study surveys international practice patterns of medical toxicology providers regarding the management of a hypothetical patient with a massive paracetamol overdose. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED:A total of 342 responses from 31 different nations were obtained during the study period. Sixty-one percent of providers would have increased their acetylcysteine dosing when treating the hypothetical massive overdose. Thirty percent of respondents recommended an indefinite infusion of acetylcysteine at 12.5 mg/kg/hour after the bolus dose, whereas 20 percent recommended following the "Hendrickson" protocol, which advocates for a stepwise increase in acetylcysteine dosing to match high paracetamol concentrations at the 300 mg/L, 400 mg/L, and 600 mg/L lines on the Rumack-Matthew nomogram. Ten percent of respondents stated they would have given "double dose acetylcysteine" but did not specify what that entailed. Forty-seven percent of respondents indicated that they would have given fomepizole, and 28 percent of respondents recommended extracorporeal removal. DISCUSSION/UNASSIGNED:Our survey study assessed the approach to a hypothetical patient with a massive paracetamol overdose and demonstrated that, at minimum, most respondents would increase the dose of acetylcysteine. Additionally, almost half would also include fomepizole, and nearly one-third would include extracorporeal removal. CONCLUSIONS/UNASSIGNED:There is considerable international variation for the treatment of both non-massive and massive paracetamol overdoses. Future research is needed to identify and standardize the most effective treatment for both non-massive and massive paracetamol overdoses.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Antenatal lead exposure is associated with multiple adverse maternal and fetal consequences. Maternal blood lead concentrations as low as 10 µg/dL have been associated with gestational hypertension, spontaneous abortion, growth retardation, and impaired neurobehavioral development. Current treatment recommendations for pregnant women with a blood lead level (BLL) ≥ 45 µg/dL include chelation. We report a successful case of a mother with severe gestational lead poisoning treated with induction of labor in a term infant. CASE REPORT/METHODS:A 22-year-old G2P1001 female, at 38 weeks and 5 days gestation, was referred to the emergency department for an outpatient venous BLL of 53 µg/dL. The decision was made to limit ongoing prenatal lead exposure by emergent induction as opposed to chelation. Maternal BLL just prior to induction increased to 70 µg/dL. A 3510 g infant was delivered with APGAR scores of 9 and 9 at 1 and 5 min. Cord BLL at delivery returned at 41 µg/dL. The mother was instructed to avoid breastfeeding until her BLLs decreased to below 40 µg/dL, consistent with federal and local guidelines. The neonate was empirically chelated with dimercaptosuccinic acid. On postpartum day 2, maternal BLL decreased to 36 µg/dL, and the neonatal BLL was found to be 33 µg/mL. Both the mother and neonate were discharged to an alternative lead-free household on postpartum day 4.

Background/UNASSIGNED:The Association of American Medical Colleges has identified the humanities as fundamental to medical education across all specialties. Evidence from undergraduate medical education (UME) demonstrates the humanities' positive impacts on outcomes that could be relevant to patient care and trainee well-being in emergency medicine (EM) residency training. However, less is known about the humanities' role in graduate medical education (GME). Objectives/UNASSIGNED:The objectives were to describe EM residents' self-reported exposure to the humanities and its relationship with their empathy, tolerance of ambiguity, and patient-centeredness, and to assess their attitudes toward the humanities in GME. Methods/UNASSIGNED:This cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted at six U.S. EM residency programs in 2018-2019. Quantitative analyses included linear regressions testing for trends between humanities exposures and outcomes, adjusted for sex, year in training, and clustering within programs; adjunct analysis of free-text responses was performed using an exploratory constructivist approach to identify themes about views on the humanities' role in medicine. Results/UNASSIGNED: = 114) of respondents agreed humanities are important in GME; free-text responses revealed perceived positive impacts of humanities on generating well-rounded clinicians and enhancing patient care. Conclusions/UNASSIGNED:Engagement with the humanities may be associated with empathy among EM residents. Although the magnitude of associations was smaller than that seen in UME, this study demonstrates resident interest in humanities and suggests that extracurricular engagement with the humanities may be insufficient to prolong positive impacts seen in UME. Further research is needed to explore how to sustain these benefits through integration or addition of the humanities in existing GME curricula.