July-August 2007

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S A E M

901 N. Washington Ave. Lansing, MI 48906-5137 (517) 485-5484 saem@saem.org www.saem.org

Newsletter of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine July/August 2007 Volume XXII, Number 4

SAEM Attends CSR

President’s Message Over the past year we have made significant strides with emergency care research working collaboratively with ACEP though the SAEM-ACEP NIH task force. We met with the NIH Director, Dr. Zerhouni, and discussed possibilities to enhance emergency care research. We also met with the leadership of the Center for Scientific Review and provided names and CVs of approximately Judd E. Hollander, MD 30 qualified emergency care researchers willing to volunteer their time to serve on NIH study sections. Our group also met with the leadership of National Center for Research Resources of the NIH to discuss emergency care and translational research. On the heels of the IOM report, the NIH is convening a study of their emergency care research portfolio and examining how to improve research in this area. During his presidency, Jim Hoekstra certainly did a wonderful job capitalizing on the IOM report and helped to develop a nice working relationship with the NIH. Obviously, SAEM will continue in this direction over the next year. You might ask, what are other organizational priorities to be addressed over the next year? The Board of Directors has decided that membership services will take a front seat. Our new Executive Director, Jim Tarrant, will be assessing our situation and preparing a plan to enhance this important area. SAEM is devoted to ensuring more membership services, improved IT support and improved staff support for committee and interest group initiatives.

Clifton Callaway, MD, PhD University of Pittsburgh

This year we are embarking into areas where SAEM has not traditionally been active. We have a Crowding Task Force, chaired by Brent Asplin, that brings together a very talented group of members with extensive research experience to develop data and help drive policies aimed at reducing ED boarding and improving the care of patients. Over the last year, research has proven that ED crowding has an adverse impact multiple patient-oriented outcomes. ED crowding is now associated with poorer time to fibrinolytic administration for STEMI patients; a lower likelihood of receiving guideline-appropriate care in patients with NSTEMI; delays until administration of antibiotics for patients admitted with pneumonia; delays until receipt (or even receipt) of pain medications for patients with severe

On March 2, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) held the first in a series of open houses to hear commentary about its current scientific review process. Given the central role of NIH funding in academic medical centers, SAEM sent representation to this meeting. The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the division within NIH that coordinates and conducts the scientific review of most investigator-initiated grants. This open house was the first in a series of meetings, and was devoted to the division of CSR that reviews neuroscience-related grant proposals. The open house began with an overview of the current status of the CSR and with a charge to the participants. Specifically, participants were asked to address two questions: 1. Is the science of your discipline represented in the current CSR? 2. What will be the most important questions/technologies forthcoming in your discipline during the next 10 years. The current CSR last underwent a major restructuring in 1997-1998. Prior to that time, each institute (for example, Heart, Lung and Blood or Mental Health) conducted much of its own scientific review. Consequently, applications would be reviewed within the institute associated with the clinical discipline rather than the scientific content. There was little opportunity for interdisciplinary review. The revision was intended to free the scientific review from these traditional boundaries. Study sections were consequently designed along scientific themes (Integrated Review Groups) and were expected to review proposals ultimately housed under multiple institutes. In 2000-2001, review of training grants (fellowships) also were moved to dedicated study sections. NIH staff presented data about the current CSR. For example, a survey of applicants was conducted in 2001 after the transition to the current system. Not surprisingly, funded applicants were satisfied and unfunded applicants were not. The number of applications processed by the CSR has also grown over time. Almost 31,000 scientists participate each year in NIH study sections. Although the general impression in the scientific community is that funding is much more difficult to obtain, NIH staff presented data that indicate increasing total numbers of investigatorinitiated grants have been funded over recent years. The presenters outlined the process whereby current

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“to improve patient care by advancing research and education in emergency medicine”


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