11

year after I was funded to brainstorm some ideas with her. Her research area and expertise are actually quite similar to mine, and [she] is someone who could offer a great deal to my development, but because I did not do a good job in being proactive to schedule meetings with her and pursue this relationship, my ability to develop a particular line of research was compromised due to my own fault. CHAPTER 3 — WHY DO I NEED A MENTOR, AND HOW DO I FIND ONE? 17 From experiences like these, we recommend more structured interactions (e.g., meeting at regularly scheduled times) if one has a mentor in another department and especially at another site. Without that, it is difficult to achieve any consistency in the relationship. For those who are working with mentors within their department or who already have regularly scheduled meetings due to similar research projects, less-structured times are necessary. Even in those cases, however, if one is working with a mentor on a collaborative research project, we recommend developing deadlines regarding when certain goals or tasks will be achieved. CONCLUSIONS Mentorship is a key ingredient in the success of a research career. It should not be overlooked. It should be treasured by both the mentor and mentee. Watching a successful mentee flourish can provide the mentor with the same sense of fulfillment as their own success. It is just like raising another member of the academic family. 18 CHAPTER 3 — WHY DO I NEED A MENTOR, AND HOW DO I FIND ONE? CHAPTER 4 — KEY ISSUES IN EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH 19 EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH — DEFINITION, RATIONALE, CHALLENGES Over the last several decades, the emergence of the specialty of emergency medicine has led to major improvements in the care of patients with a variety of life-threatening conditions. The breadth and depth of conditions cared for in the emergency setting are of such significant magnitude that we must continue to be motivated to study and discover therapies and health care strategies that improve patient outcomes. The breadth and depth of the research programs in our specialty truly mirror our clinical practice. Our niche in the world of research is related to timing, location, and access to care rather than ownership of a specific organ system or set of diseases (1). Neumar was the first to articulate the fundamental hypothesis of emergency care research as follows: “Rapid diagnosis and early intervention in acute illness or acutely decompensated chronic illness improves patient outcomes” (2). During a recent consensus conference examining the utility of emergency care research networks, participants echoed this sentiment and defined emergency care research as ‘‘the systematic examination of patient care that is expected to be continuously available to diverse populations presenting with undifferentiated symptoms of acute illness, injury, or acutely decompensated chronic illness, and whose outcomes depend on timely diagnosis and treatment’’ (3). Emergency care research extends beyond the physical boundaries of the ED; the chain of emergency care encompasses out-of-hospital care and short- and long-term care settings and includes both immediate and long-term outcomes of therapeutic interventions and strategies. Emergency care research subjects can be drawn from any number of patient populations but have typically been represented by three groups: (a) those with acute life-threatening illness or injury; (b) those needing intervention for a non–life-threatening episode of illness or injury that requires diagnostic and therapeutic resources only available within an emergency care setting; and (c) those with ambulatory, nonemergent medical needs. It is also important to note that emergency care research may extend beyond the individual patient to the study of an actual system of emergency care delivery and possibly KEY ISSUES IN EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, FACEP, FAAP EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH – A PRIMER CHAPTER 4 20 CHAPTER 4 — KEY ISSUES IN EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH the effect of that system on the community, with respect to access of care, use of resources, and cost (3). Emergency care research is distinct in its investigation of time-dependent disease processes or acute injury at the cellular and patient level; it focuses not only on diseases such as acute myocardial infarction, acute stroke, trauma, and sepsis but also on critical presentations such as poisonings, undifferentiated shock, coma, and respiratory failure prior to the establishment of a distinct diagnosis. Another unique feature of emergency care research is its resource-dependent processes, which are obtainable 24 hours a day in the ED, making emergency care settings distinct from other health care delivery environments. These include the around-the-clock availability of emergent diagnostics such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, specialty consultation, and care for substance and psychiatric related illness (3). Many life-threatening illnesses and injuries still do not have effective treatments and we have not solved seemingly simple clinical problems despite advances in technology and pharmacology. For example, trials of multiple agents used as neuroprotectants to date have been unsuccessful. Similarly, for subarachnoid hemorrhage and 

1   2    3    4    5    6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25