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Biomedical subjects

S J Playe

Publications and source records attributed to S J Playe.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Academic emergency physicians' perception of patient charges resulting from routine ED care.

This project was undertaken to assess academic emergency physicians' awareness of emergency department charges for routine care. A 60-item worksheet requiring estimates of patient charges for selected emergency department services, supplies, medications, and composite scenarios was used. The study was conducted at a university-affiliated academic emergency department and included 20 emergency medicine attendings and 20 emergency medicine residents. The questionnaires were distributed to the participants, independently completed, and immediately returned without discussion or consultation. All 40 surveys were analyzed. Answers were scored correct if the estimate was no more than 20% above or below the actual charge. The attending physicians scored an average of 19% of the items correctly, and the residents scored an average of 18% correctly. The average absolute error for attendings and residents were 89% and 105%, respectively. The proportion of those overestimating and underestimating each category were virtually identical in the 2 groups. We conclude from this study that emergency medicine attending physicians and residents do not have a good appreciation of patient charges for routine emergency care.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1997

Emergency medicine research consent form readability assessment.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of education necessary to understand informed consent documents used to enroll subjects in emergency medicine research. METHODS: The directors of 96 accredited emergency medicine residency programs were asked to provide copies of research consent forms approved for patient enrollment at their facilities. A computer program was used to evaluate the readability of the documents submitted. The consent forms were stratified by degree of risk to the subject and compared with the use of ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Ninety-four informed consent documents were received from 45 program directors. After exclusion of 6 forms, 88 were analyzed using the software program RightWriter 5.0. The mean readability index (years of education needed to understand the content) was 10. The length and complexity of the consent forms increased as risk to the subject increased (P = .03). CONCLUSION: Informed consent documents used in emergency medicine research may be too complex for the average patient to understand. A positive correlation exists between protocol risk and consent from complexity.

Clinical Protocols↗
PubMed1994

Reducing the pain of local anesthetic infiltration: warming and buffering have a synergistic effect.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare room-temperature unbuffered lidocaine, warm lidocaine, buffered lidocaine, and warm buffered lidocaine to determine which of the four solutions is least painful during infiltration. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, double-blinded, volunteer study. TYPE OF PARTICIPANT: Thirty-two young healthy adults. MAIN RESULTS: Each subject received four subcutaneous injections of 1% lidocaine: room-temperature unbuffered, warm, buffered, and warm buffered. After each injection, participants recorded their perception of pain associated with infiltration of the solution on a visual analog scale. Mean pain scores for the four solutions were determined and analyzed. The mean perceived pain score for the warm buffered solution was significantly lower than for any of the other solutions (versus warm: P = .0005; versus buffered: P = .0028; versus room temperature: P = .0001). There was no statistically significant difference between either the warm solution or buffered solution and the room-temperature unbuffered lidocaine. The difference in mean pain score for the warm buffered solution, compared with those for the warm, buffered, and room-temperature solutions, suggests that warming and buffering have a synergistic effect. CONCLUSION: Skin infiltration with warm buffered lidocaine is significantly less painful than infiltration with room-temperature unbuffered lidocaine, warm lidocaine, or buffered lidocaine.

Adult↗