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Realigning Emergency Department Processes to Provide Patient-Centered Pulmonary Embolism Testing

Concerns, preferences and expectations of care for patients

DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES, March 23, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Realigning emergency department processes could provide patient-centered pulmonary embolism (PE) testing by addressing four themes: patient satisfaction comes from addressing the patient's primary concern (for example, their pain); patients expect individualized care; patients prefer imaging over clinical examination for PE testing; and patients expect 100% confidence from their emergency physician when given a diagnosis. That is the conclusion of the study titled Patient values and preferences in pulmonary embolism testing in the emergency department, published in the March 2022 issue of Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM), a peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM).

The authors identified patient-specific values, preferences, and expectations for PE testing in these qualitative interviews highlighting communication and expectation gaps in the physician-patient relationship that present as barriers to patient-centered care for PE testing in the ED. The broader implications of the findings are two-fold. First, future research should focus on which emergency staff behaviors and information adjuncts bring greater satisfaction for ED patients. Second, researchers could ensure successive advances in research evidence are congruent with ED patient values by adequately engaging ED patients at the hypothesis development stage of future research.

Subthemes of the study included symptomatic relief, finding a diagnosis, receiving tests, rapid progression through their care, perception of highly accurate CT scans, willingness to seek a second opinion, direct physician communication, and expectation of case-specific testing with cognitive reassurance.

The lead author of the study is Vidushi Swarup, MSc, clinical researcher in the department of medicine, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and the Hematology-Oncology Clinical Research Group at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Results of the study are discussed in a recent AEM podcast.

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ABOUT ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Academic Emergency Medicine, the monthly journal of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, features the best in peer-reviewed, cutting-edge original research relevant to the practice and investigation of emergency care. The above study is published open access and can be downloaded by following the DOI link: 10.1111/acem.14400. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Tami Craig at tcraig@saem.org.

ABOUT THE SOCIETY FOR ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE
SAEM is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of care of the acutely ill and injured patient by leading the advancement of academic emergency medicine through education and research, advocacy, and professional development. To learn more, visit saem.org.

Tami Craig
SAEM
+1 8478135734
tcraig@saem.org
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