The call for academic departments of emergency medicine throughout the university of california.

The California Journal of Emergency Medicine I111, January 2001 Emergency physicians should be knowledgable about GHB and the precursors GBL. and l,4~BD. The patient who presents to the Emergency Department with toxicity from these agents is likely have a nonspeciﬁc comatose state, and management should be focused on airway control. Rapid recovery from unconsciousness is considered the hallmark of GHB toxicity. References 1. T&#39;unrticli.ff G. Sites of action of gamma—hydroxybutyrate (glib)-a neuroactive drug with abuse potential. Clin Tax 1997; 35:581- 590. 22... Kerri PCA, Yoong FFY. Garnmahydroxybutyric acid: an - emerging recreational drug. Anaesthesia 1998; 53:ll9S-1198. 3. Taitahara J, Yunold S, Yakushiji W et al. Stimulatory effects of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid on growth hormone and prolactin release in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Merab 1977;441:1014- 1017. 4. Craig K, Gomez HF, Mclvlanus JL. Bania&#39;1‘C. Severe gamma- hydroxybutyrate withdrawal: :1 case report and literature review. J Emerg Med 2000; 18:65-70. 5. Anon. GHB added to the list of schedule Icomrolled substances. DEA Press Release March 13, 2000. bttp‘([wm,u5gQ&#39;;,ggvLg|ea/ mm .. 6. Larnrners G]. Arends J. Declercll, Ferrari MD, Schouwink G, Troost J. Garnmahydroxyhutyrate and narcolepsy: a double» blind placebo-controlled study. Sleep 1993; 16:216-220. 7.-&#39;0 Sanguineti VR, Angelo A. Frank MR. Ghb: a home brew. Am J Drug Ale: Abu 1997&#39;. 23:637-642. , 8. Chin RL, SpbrerKA, Cullison B, Dyer JE, Wu TD. Clinical course of y—-hydroxybutymte overdose. Annals of Emergency Medicine 1998; 3l:7l6-722 9. lngels M, Rangan ‘C, Bellezzo J, Clark RF. Coma and respira- tory depression following the ingestion of gbb and its precursors: three cases. J Emerg Med 2000; 19:47-50 10. Anon. FDA warns about products containing gmma butyrolactone or gbl and asks companies to issue a recalL FDA Talk Paper January 21. 1999. ll. Toll LL, I-lurlbut KM (Eds): POISONDEX® System. MlCROMEDEX®, Inc... Englewood. Colorado Volume 106 expiration 12f31f2000. 12. Ferrara SD, Tedeschi L. Prison G. Rossi A. Fatality due to gamma-hydroxybutytic acid (glib) and heroin intoxication. J F or Sci 1995; 40:501-504. l3. Couper FJ, Logan BK. Determination of y-hydroxybutyrate (ghb) in biological specimens by gas chromatography~rnass spectrometry. J Anal Tax 2000; 24:1-7. MEETING REMINDER: American Academy of Emergency Medicine Annual Scientiﬁc Meeting February 22 - 25, 2001 Orlando, Florida For Detail: www.aacm.org page 8 The Call for Academic Departments of Emergency Medicine Throughout the University of California Mark Langdorf, MD Chief of Emergency Medicine UC Irvine Medical Center Introduction The ten University of California (UC)-affiliated teaching hospitals suffer from a collective lack of inﬂuence in the academic hierarchy of their five parent medical schools. This is in stark contrast to the vital position of emergency medicine (BM) in California healthcare, and to the nationwide trend of prominence of emergency academics. Nationwide. there are 57 academic Departments of EM, including the Universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania. Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt and Ohio State. UC must recognize the central impor- tance of EM to the state&#39;s medical students. Academic department status will enable UC emergency departments (EDS) to fulﬁll their destiny as premier sites of clinical care. teaching and research. Current Scope of Influence of the Specialty of Emergency Medicine The five University hospitals and their five affiliated county and city facilities see more than 600,000 patients per year. (personal communication from medical directors) and comprise 6% of the California ED census. However, the import goes far beyond patient volume. All five campuses have affiliated Level I trauma centers, which care for 18.000 critically injured patients per year. The UC campuses at San Diego, Irvine. Los Angeles, San Francisco. and Davis support seven accredited emergency medicine residencies. Four of the five university hospitals support EM residencies. These programs now train more than 200 EM residents, two~thirds of the state’s complement. “ EM programs provide clinical rotations for medical students at all affiliated hospitals. to assure that all UC students receive instruction in this vital ﬁeld. More than 6% of UC medical students train in BM (compared to 4% nationwide). This is testimony to the quality education that UC medical students receive. The ten hospitals engage in substantial EM research. This research effort has been hampered by lack of faculty resounzes, grant funding. and time to pursue independent investigation. Neverthe- less, EM faculty publish in some of the most prestigious journals, including JAMA. nratr. and the The ten UC~afﬁJ.iated EDs lead such important initiatives as the reduction of child and elder abuse, domestic and gun violence. and injury prevention. They also work to deﬁne the statewide response to earthquakes and bio/chemical terrorism. They are active in surveillance for established and emerging infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and influenza. They provide radio control and education to more than 1000 paramedics, who deliver patients to UC, community and public hospitals. They stallf the state&#39;s poison centers, which ﬁeld hundreds of thousands of calls yearly.