No abstract

Occupational Violence at Lebanese E m e r g e n c y D e p a r t m e n t s : P r e v a l e n c e , Characteristics and Associated Factors: Mohamad AlAmeddine, et al. Health Management and Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon-Background: Emergency departments (EDs) workers are at increased risk of exposure to occupational violence. The prevalence of occupational violence is potentially higher and consequences are more serious in areas with poor security conditions. Objectives: We investigated the prevalence, characteristics and factors associated with the exposure of ED workers to violence at Lebanese hospitals. Methods: All ED employees at six tertiary hospitals in Lebanon were surveyed using a crosssectional design. The survey instrument included four sections collecting demographic/professional information and measuring exposure to violence, degree of job satisfaction and degree of professional burnout. The questionnaire was distributed to all ED employees at participating hospitals and was completed by 256 ED workers (70.3% response rate). Multinomial and binary logistic regressions were used to investigate factors significantly associated with verbal and physical violence. Results: Over the past 12 mo, four in five ED employees were verbally abused and one in four was physically assaulted. Exposure to verbal abuse was associated with serious outcomes including significantly higher levels of occupational burnout and an increased likelihood to quit current job. Exposure to physical violence was associated with increased likelihood-to-quit, nurse status and "public hospital" employment. Conclusion: Violence largely prevails at Lebanese EDs. Most vulnerable are nurses and employees of public hospitals who are disproportionally exposed to violence. ED stakeholders must work collaboratively to investigate the root causes of violence and devise and implement effective antiviolence policies and measures. Such measures will be necessary to protect the well-being and decrease the turnover of ED workers. (J Occup Health 2011; 53: 455-464)

No abstract

Introduction: Although some studies have tried to assess the factors leading to choice of specialty, none have been specific to emergency medicine (EM). With a doubling of the number of EM residency programs in the past decade, an assessment of the career motivations of residents is in order. Objectives: To identify and rank the factors that lead candidates to choose EM as a career. Methods: Fifty-four participating EM programs returned a total of 393 anonymous surveys completed by their 1996 National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) interviewees. The survey asked respondents to rank 12 factors on a 5-point (0–4) Likert scale. Results: Respondents ranked the 12 motivating factors in the following descending order of importance: diversity in clinical pathology, emphasis on acute care, flexibility in choice of practice location, flexibility of EM work schedules, previous work experience in EM, greater availability of EM faculty for bedside teaching, strong influence of an EM faculty advisor or mentor, relatively shorter length of training, better salaries for EM than for primary care specialties, the presence of an EM residency at the student’s medical school, perception that EM residents have more time to moonlight and popularity of EM among medical students. Conclusion: US applicants appear to choose a career in EM largely because of clinical factors (diversity of clinical pathology and emphasis on acute care) and practice-related factors (flexibility in practice location and schedule).

Personal digital assistants are feasible in an academic emergency department and change management more often than texts. EMRs accessed personal digital assistants more often than paper texts. Patient perceptions of physicians who use personal digital assistants are neutral or favorable.