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Social emergency medicine is an emerging branch of emergency medicine that explores the interplay of social forces and the emergency care system, and how these act together to affect the health of individuals and their communities. Organized in 2009, the field has gained wider acceptance within the larger specialty of emergency medicine. Initiatives in social emergency medicine include research, direct service and advocacy aimed at addressing the social determinants of health.[1][2]

Scope

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Social emergency medicine encompasses many environmental and behavioral factors that affect health. These include housing and food insecurity,[3][4] the use and misuse of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol,[5] community and interpersonal violence,[6] the impact of firearms on public health,[7] human trafficking,[8] and communicable disease including HIV and Hepatitis C.[9] Proponents of social emergency medicine support research to better understand the origins and impact of these factors on the health of individuals and communities, and work to create screening tools and interventions to address the issues that lead to health disparities in the population. Though there is significant overlap with the fields of social work and public health, social emergency medicine endeavors to leverage the unique position of the Emergency Department in the community to add new perspectives and information to the local and national discussions regarding our approach to addressing health disparities.[citation needed]

History

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The term "social emergency medicine" traces its origins to 2009, when emergency physicians, Dr. Harrison Alter and Dr. Barry Simon, at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, formed the Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine,[10] an independent non-profit research and advocacy institute.[11] In 2017 the American College of Emergency Physicians[12] approved the creation of a social emergency medicine section, and in the same year the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine authorized the Social Emergency Medicine and Population Health Interest Group. In September 2017 a consensus conference was held in Dallas, Texas in order to further refine the definition, scope, and aims of this burgeoning field. In 2020, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) approved the creation of a social emergency medicine section, as well.[citation needed]

Training

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Despite the significant impact of social and behavioral factors on health,[13] these topics are only recently beginning to receive significant attention in undergraduate medical education curricula in the United States.[14] Similarly, emergency medicine residencies devote differing amounts of resources to teaching these topics. Most residencies provide at least introductory teaching on the social determinants of health, as advocacy around health disparities is named as a key subset of the professionalism competency in the 2016 American Board of Emergency Medicine Model of Clinical Practice. Some residencies provide an opportunity for interested trainees to dedicate more time to social emergency medicine topics through tracks or concentration areas. As of 2018, these include NYU, the University of Illinois at Chicago,[15] Johns Hopkins,[16] and Stanford.[17]

Fellowships in social emergency medicine can be found at The University of California, Los Angeles,[18] Stanford University, and St Barnabas Hospital (Bronx).[19][20] A fellowship in Population Health, which focuses on closely related content, is offered by New York University[21] and research programs can be found at the Wisconsin Population Health Service[22] and the Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine.[23]

Screening and interventions

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Screening in the Emergency Department must be brief and/or targeted in order to be appropriate for an acute care setting. Notable examples of social emergency medicine screening and interventions include:

  • Asking patients about safety at home and in their relationships, and helping them develop safety plans if they are experiencing abuse[24]
  • Engaging with victims of gun violence to try to help break the cycle of violence in their community[25][26]
  • Performing screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for patients struggling with substance use [27]
  • Offering HIV and Hep C screening tests to all patients, or to patients with certain risk factors [28]
  • Providing ED-based advocates to help connect patients with further resources in the community[29]

References

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  1. ^ Scheck A (July 2010). "Breaking News: Levitt Center Looks Beyond Its Medical Mission". Emergency Medicine News. 32 (7): 1–5. doi:10.1097/01.EEM.0000383962.79399.af.
  2. ^ Anderson ES, Lippert S, Newberry J, Bernstein E, Alter HJ, Wang NE (July 2016). "Addressing Social Determinants of Health from the Emergency Department through Social Emergency Medicine". The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. 17 (4): 487–9. doi:10.5811/westjem.2016.5.30240. PMC 4944812. PMID 27429706.
  3. ^ Sun R, Karaca Z, Wong HS (2006). "Characteristics of Homeless Individuals Using Emergency Department Services in 2014" (PDF). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHQR). PMID 29400922. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Miner JR, Westgard B, Olives TD, Patel R, Biros M (May 2013). "Hunger and Food Insecurity among Patients in an Urban Emergency Department". The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. 14 (3): 253–62. doi:10.5811/westjem.2012.5.6890. PMC 3656707. PMID 23687545.
  5. ^ Parker G, Libart D, Fanning L, Higgs T, Dirickson C (December 2012). "Taking on substance abuse in the emergency room: One hospital's SBIRT story" (PDF). International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 10 (6): 984–90. doi:10.1007/s11469-012-9394-1. S2CID 7950508.
  6. ^ Fahimi J, Larimer E, Hamud-Ahmed W, Anderson E, Schnorr CD, Yen I, Alter HJ (April 2016). "Long-term mortality of patients surviving firearm violence". Injury Prevention. 22 (2): 129–34. doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2015-041710. PMID 26506959. S2CID 206980782.
  7. ^ "Advocating for Public Health: Gun Violence Prevention". American College of Emergency Physicians. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  8. ^ "Red Flags: Identifying Sex Trafficking Victims in the ED". Emergency Physicians Monthly. 18 November 2012. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  9. ^ "Studies show new progress in HIV testing in emergency departments". U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  10. ^ "Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine".
  11. ^ Kleffman S (26 July 2010). "Care crossroads: thousands of patients every year rely on emergency rooms alone for medical treatment. a new center aims to find out why -- and how it can make things better". Oakland Tribune/ Contra Costa Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016.
  12. ^ "Social Emergency Medicine Section // ACEP". www.acep.org. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  13. ^ "Up to Half of U.S. Premature Deaths Are Preventable; Behavioral Factors Key". Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  14. ^ "Population health management makes its way to med school". American Medical Association. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  15. ^ "Tracks". University of Illinois College of Medicine. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  16. ^ McMacken M. "Focused Advanced Specialized Training Opportunities". The Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  17. ^ "ACCEL". Emergency Medicine, Stanford University Hospital. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  18. ^ "Fellowship".
  19. ^ "Fellowship in Social Emergency Medicine".
  20. ^ Population Health and Social Emergency Medicine.
  21. ^ "Department of Population Health | Department of Population Health". med.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  22. ^ "The Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship". The Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  23. ^ "The Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine". The Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  24. ^ "Breaking the Cycle of Domestic Violence". Emergency Physicians Monthly. 9 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  25. ^ Karhade, Deepti Shroff (2017-04-11). "Brief emergency department screening tool may help identify high-risk youths for future firearm violence". 2 Minute Medicine. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  26. ^ "Hospital Interventions Curb Gun Violence, Help Victims Heal". news.aamc.org. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  27. ^ Hawk K, D'Onofrio G (August 2018). "Emergency department screening and interventions for substance use disorders". Addiction Science & Clinical Practice. 13 (1): 18. doi:10.1186/s13722-018-0117-1. PMC 6077851. PMID 30078375.
  28. ^ "HIV Testing and Screening in the Emergency Department". www.acep.org. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  29. ^ "Emergency Department Patient Advocate Role and Training". www.acep.org. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
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