Study designs and evaluation models for emergency department public health research

Optimizing Recruitment and Retention in Substance Use Disorder Research in Emergency Departments

INTRODUCTION

Clinical trial recruitment and retention of individuals who use substances are challenging in any setting and can be particularly difficult in emergency department (ED) settings. This article discusses strategies for optimizing recruitment and retention in substance use research conducted in EDs.

METHODS

Screening, Motivational Assessment, Referral, and Treatment in Emergency Departments (SMART-ED) was a National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) protocol designed to assess the impact of a brief intervention with individuals screening positive for moderate to severe problems related to use of non-alcohol, non-nicotine drugs. We implemented a multisite, randomized clinical trial at six academic EDs in the United States and leveraged a variety of methods to successfully recruit and retain study participants throughout the 12-month study course. Recruitment and retention success is attributed to appropriate site selection, leveraging technology, and gathering adequate contact information from participants at their initial study visit.

RESULTS

The SMART-ED recruited 1,285 adult ED patients and attained follow-up rates of 88%, 86%, and 81% at the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up periods, respectively. Participant retention protocols and practices were key tools in this longitudinal study that required continuous monitoring, innovation, and adaptation to ensure strategies remained culturally sensitive and context appropriate through the duration of the study.

CONCLUSION

Tailored strategies that consider the demographic characteristics and region of recruitment and retention are necessary for ED-based longitudinal studies involving patients with substance use disorders.

Pragmatic clinical trial design in emergency medicine: Study considerations and design types

Pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs) focus on correlation between treatment and outcomes in real-world clinical practice, yet a guide highlighting key study considerations and design types for emergency medicine investigators pursuing this important study type is not available. Investigators conducting emergency department (ED)-based PCTs face multiple decisions within the planning phase to ensure robust and meaningful study findings. The PRagmatic Explanatory Continuum Indicator Summary 2 (PRECIS-2) tool allows trialists to consider both pragmatic and explanatory components across nine domains, shaping the trial design to the purpose intended by the investigators. Aside from the PRECIS-2 tool domains, ED-based investigators conducting PCTs should also consider randomization techniques, human subjects concerns, and integration of trial components within the electronic health record. The authors additionally highlight the advantages, disadvantages, and rationale for the use of four common randomized study design types to be considered in PCTs: parallel, crossover, factorial, and stepped-wedge. With increasing emphasis on the conduct of PCTs, emergency medicine investigators will benefit from a rigorous approach to clinical trial design.

A Systematic Review of Interventions to Improve Nursing Home to Emergency Department Care Transitions

This study aimed to identify interventions that are effective in improving the transitions of care for patients from nursing homes (NHs) to emergency departments (EDs). A total of 607 studies were identified, from which 19 studies were included for full-text review. Nine pre-post intervention studies and two retrospective cohort studies met all criteria for inclusion. In the quality assessment, two (18.2%) were assessed as good quality; seven (63.6%) were fair; and two (18.2%) were poor. Nine studies (81.2%) had a severe risk of bias, primarily due to confounding and deviation from the intended intervention. Pre-post intervention studies utilized transfer checklists/forms, web-based communication networks, and multimodal approaches to improve transitions of care. Eight studies reported significant improvement in critical NH-ED transfer information completeness after intervention implementation. Three studies assessed health care utilization after intervention implementation with two studies reporting no reduction in utilization and one study reporting decreased 30-day hospital readmission and ED revisit rates. Studies evaluating patient-centered outcomes, such as whether interventions reduced harm to patients by decreasing medical errors, hospital length of stay, or the overall number of facility transfers, are needed.

A Consensus-Driven Agenda for Emergency Medicine Firearm Injury Prevention Research

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To identify critical emergency medicine-focused firearm injury research questions and develop an evidence-based research agenda.

METHODS

National content experts were recruited to a technical advisory group for the American College of Emergency Physicians Research Committee. Nominal group technique was used to identify research questions by consensus. The technical advisory group decided to focus on 5 widely accepted categorizations of firearm injury. Subgroups conducted literature reviews on each topic and developed preliminary lists of emergency medicine-relevant research questions. In-person meetings and conference calls were held to iteratively refine the extensive list of research questions, following nominal group technique guidelines. Feedback from external stakeholders was reviewed and integrated.

RESULTS

Fifty-nine final emergency medicine-relevant research questions were identified, including questions that cut across all firearm injury topics and questions specific to self-directed violence (suicide and attempted suicide), intimate partner violence, peer (nonpartner) violence, mass violence, and unintentional ("accidental") injury. Some questions could be addressed through research conducted in emergency departments; others would require work in other settings.

CONCLUSION

The technical advisory group identified key emergency medicine-relevant firearm injury research questions. Emergency medicine-specific data are limited for most of these questions. Funders and researchers should consider increasing their attention to firearm injury prevention and control, particularly to the questions identified here and in other recently developed research agendas.

Feasibility of audit methods to study access to substance use treatment

Audit studies represent an emerging method for examining disparities in access to care, like substance use treatment, whereby fake patients (i.e., actors) attempt to procure a service with one or more characteristics isolated across condition. This allows for manipulation of variables, like insurance status, that are normally fixed or impossible to standardize with precision when studying actual patients. This pilot study explored whether these methods were feasible for the examination of community-based substance use treatment access. Masked telephone calls (n=48) were made to providers (k=8) in a single city seeking an appointment. A male and female "patient" made calls in three insurance status conditions: no insurance, state-funded insurance, and private insurance. All other subject characteristics were held constant. Results showed an audit design to be a feasible method for examining disparities in access and demonstrated substantial barriers to voluntary treatment. Implications and future directions are discussed.

[State of the art. Publications of French emergency's teams since 5 years]

INTRODUCTION

The development of emergency medicine in France and its valuation can take place only through acknowledged scientific publications. The aim of our study was to analyze the publications of French teams in emergency medicine since 2006.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Observational, descriptive study, from January 1st, 2006 to December 31st, 2010 including, thanks to Medline, studies related to emergency medicine with, as keywords, "medicine d'urgences; urgences; emergency; emergency medicine; French; France" the names of heads of the emergency departments, of the urgent medical aid services (samu) and of anaesthetics services in mainland France. Data collection focused on the type of study, subject, place of conducting the study and grade of international quality.

RESULTS

Three hundred and twenty-five publications were listed: 39% (n=126) of the studies were carried out in prehospital. We identified 28% of observational studies (n=92), 20% of randomized prospective (n=66), 19% of cohorts (n=62), 18% of case reports (n=59), 10% of clarifications (n=32) and 4% of general reviews (n=11). The most frequent theme was the cardiology (38% of cases). The most favourite journal was the Annales françaises d'anesthésie et de réanimation (Afar) (18%, n=57).

CONCLUSION

The release of French studies in emergency medicine is increasing, with an improvement in the quality of the published studies. All these results demonstrate the progress made since five years in emergency medicine in France but also the work that remains to be done in our rising medical specialization.

Conceptual models of health behavior: research in the emergency care settings

This article provides recommendations for incorporating conceptual models of health behavior change into research conducted in emergency care settings. The authors drafted a set of preliminary recommendations, which were reviewed and discussed by a panel of experienced investigators attending the 2009 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference. The original recommendations were expanded and refined based on their input. This article reports the final recommendations. Three recommendations were made: 1) research conducted in emergency care settings that focuses on health behaviors should be grounded in formal conceptual models, 2) investigators should clearly operationalize their outcomes of interest, and 3) expected relations between theoretical constructs and outcomes should be made explicit prior to initiating a study. A priori hypothesis generation grounded in conceptual models of health behavior, followed by empirical validation of these hypotheses, is needed to improve preventive and public health-related interventions in emergency care settings.

Alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs: future directions for screening and intervention in the emergency department

This article is a product of a breakout session on injury prevention from the 2009 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference on "Public Health in the ED: Screening, Surveillance, and Intervention." The emergency department (ED) is an important entry portal into the medical care system. Given the epidemiology of substance use among ED patients, the delivery of effective brief interventions (BIs) for alcohol, drug, and tobacco use in the ED has the potential to have a large public health impact. To date, the results of randomized controlled trials of interventional studies in the ED setting for substance use have been mixed in regard to alcohol and understudied in the area of tobacco and other drugs. As a result, there are more questions remaining than answered. The work group developed the following research recommendations that are essential for the field of screening and BI for alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs in the ED. 1) Screening--develop and validate brief and practical screening instruments for ED patients and determine the optimal method for the administration of screening instruments. 2) Key components and delivery methods for intervention--conduct research on the effectiveness of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) in the ED on outcomes (e.g., consumption, associated risk behaviors, and medical psychosocial consequences) including minimum dose needed, key components, optimal delivery method, interventions focused on multiple risk behaviors and tailored based on assessment, and strategies for addressing polysubstance use. 3) Effectiveness among patient subgroups--conduct research to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from a BI for substance use, including research on moderators and mediators of intervention effectiveness, and examine special populations using culturally and developmentally appropriate interventions. 4) Referral strategies--a) promote prospective effectiveness trials to test best strategies to facilitate referrals and access from the ED to preventive services, community resources, and substance abuse and mental health treatment; b) examine impact of available community services; c) examine the role of stigma of referral and follow-up; and d) examine alternatives to specialized treatment referral. 5) Translation--conduct translational and cost-effectiveness research of proven efficacious interventions, with attention to fidelity, to move ED SBIRT from research to practice.