• We are interested in implementing Human papillomavirus (HPV) self-tests as a cervical cancer primary screening method where under-screened women who present to the ED would collect their own HPV testing specimen in the privacy of an ED bathroom and would submit it to the study team for lab testing at the site. As a first step, this study aims to survey patients and interview other stakeholders to determine needs, preferences, barriers, and facilitators for implementing a HPV self-test program for under-screened women in the ED so that it is feasible and acceptable to relevant stakeholders. 

• Status: Recruiting patients in ED

• Eligible men and women patients in the emergency department will be asked to complete a survey assessing their characteristics and awareness about the signs and symptoms of stroke and heart attack. The collected data will be stored and accessed to be analyzed for patterns to inform future educational campaigns on the gender differences in the signs and symptoms of stroke and heart attack. 

• Status: Recruiting patients in ED

• The purpose of this pilot is to assess the validity and feasibility of a student patient navigator program in promoting breast cancer screening among vulnerable (non-acute) females within the University Hospital Newark and RWJ University Hospital New Brunswick Emergency Departments. 

• Status: Recruiting patients in ED

• With the rise in teen fentanyl exposure, schools are increasingly poised to serve as crucial partners for naloxone training and distribution in the community. In 2018, New Jersey (NJ) legislators passed a law (A542), which requires public and private high schools to maintain supplies of opioid antidotes and permits emergency administration of these by a school nurse or trained employee. Despite the law, many schools and school districts remain woefully underprepared in the event of a potential opioid overdose and lack adequate opioid education for both staff and students. The Department of Emergency Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and The Prevention Education Partnership (PEP) of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine seek to fill this need by implementing and evaluating an expert-led opioid education and naloxone training program targeted for New Jersey high schools. As a first step, this study aims to speak to project stakeholders to determine adaptations to the PEP program needed for implementing the program in NJ. 

• Status: Recruiting school staff for interviews 

• We will recruit English speaking adults who present to the ED with a blood glucose of ≥200 mg/dL. Participants will receive educational materials on diabetes, as well as resources to local primary-care follow up and medication assistance programs. Participants will receive pre- and post-surveys to quantify changes in self-perceived susceptibility, severity, barriers to managing T2DM, and behavioral changes, which include presence of PCP follow-up, establishing a new PCP, and utilizing medication assistance programs. 

• Status: Starting recruitment in ED, Medical student project

• Emergency care settings face challenges with routinely obtaining performance feedback related to diagnostic care. Patients and their care partners are uniquely able to observe and report on the diagnostic process and outcome of care in this setting. Such reporting can be done via Patient-Report to IMprove Diagnostic Excellence in Emergency Department settings (PRIME-ED). PRIME-ED is a validated measure of patient-reported diagnostic excellence with strong psychometric properties that can be administered online or via interviews over the phone in English and Spanish. 

• Status: Starting recruitment via phone calls with ED patients 2 weeks after discharge 

• The goal of Project BADGE is to provide hands-on health advocacy opportunities for high school students while improving the health of the community. We will focus on ED patients with uncontrolled and new onset diabetes. The intervention will involve Your Health Kiosk for engagement with their text-based patient navigation and health education platform and the Rutgers Health Service Corps (RHSC)- composed of undergraduate and health science graduate learners- for mentorship and oversight of high school students in the ED. We will adapt existing diabetes education messaging created by GoMo Health- a company that connects behavioral science and technology to activate healthy change with evidence-based personalized engagement solutions. Project BADGE will be the first use this messaging for patients recruited from the ED. 

• Status: Waiting for IRB approval 

• Conduct a system-wide needs assessment to assess the current telemedicine usage in acute settings in EDs across RWJBH and determine the efficacy of Virtual Visit Track (VVT) following our pilot study results which were included in the proposal from earlier this year.  

• Status: IRB in process

Tip of the month

Tip of the month

• We are collecting data comparing the incidence of allergic reactions in IV premedication time periods of fewer than four hours (FTFH) group and exceeding four hours (EFH) group in patients with an iodinated contrast allergy requiring CT scan with iodinated contrast to determine if there is a significant difference between the percentage of allergic reactions to iodinated contrast in the FTFH and EFH groups.

• ACEP 2024 Poster