Mathew Mercuri

Background: Timely and appropriate care is critical for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Effective communication and prompt sharing of test results, particularly electrocardiograms (ECGs), between the referring emergency medicine (EM) physician or emergency medical service (EMS) paramedic and the interventional cardiologist (IC) are essential. This exchange relies on fax or SMS text messages. The SmartAMI-ACS (Strategic Management of Acute Reperfusion and Therapies in Acute Myocardial Infarction) App was developed to streamline communication. It is user friendly and privacy compliant, and enables rapid, secure ECG sharing to support faster, informed clinical decision-making. Objective: This paper details the results of targeted preimplementation surveys to establish barriers and enablers of using a smartphone app to transmit ECG images among ICs, EM physicians, and EMS paramedics to help tailor implementation interventions. Methods: To assess the proposed acceptability and uptake of the app, preimplementation surveys were disseminated to ICs, EM physicians, and EMS paramedics in one region of Ontario, Canada. Questions were generated based on selected components of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, results from a pilot study carried out at a regional hospital where the SmartAMI-ACS app was previously implemented, and predicted barriers based on expert guidance. The preimplementation surveys consisted of 7-point Likert scale questions (1=strongly disagree and 7=strongly agree) and open-ended questions. Open-ended data were extracted verbatim and analyzed using an inductive qualitative approach, with transcripts coded into descriptive qualitative codes and then collapsed into themes. Results: Survey uptake was acceptable, with 9 of the invited 10 ICs, 51 of the invited 223 EM physicians, and 93 of the invited 1138 EMS paramedics responding. All groups recognized that current practices for sharing ECGs allowed room for improvement, accepting that fax can be inconvenient and SMS text messages may not be secure. When asked whether there was a need for a smartphone app to transmit ECGs, ICs (mean 6.67, SD 0.5), EM physicians (mean 5.57, SD 1.3), and EMS paramedics (mean 5.79, SD 1.45) consistently agreed. Commonly reported barriers were concerns over technological challenges, privacy issues, and cell phone reception strength. Through the identification of the barriers in each stakeholder group, implementation strategies were developed that facilitated the scale-up of this system-change intervention. Conclusions: Results from the 3 web-based preimplementation surveys to identify key barriers and enablers to the implementation of the app helped inform the selection of tailored implementation strategies to support the rollout of the app across the health region. The surveys identified key barriers around technology, privacy, and access to required Wi-Fi that needed to be addressed during app implementation to facilitate uptake and use. Results from the surveys, and ongoing evaluation of effectiveness, are informing the expansion of the app intervention to local ambulance services and other health regions.

Peter Drucker pointed out an important distinction between ‘doing things right’ and ‘doing the right thing’, which recognised that all problems are embedded in a context and thus can only be understood within their unique contextual setting. Contemporary research practices in clinical medicine often regards contextual factors as potential confounders that will bias effect estimates and thus must be avoided. However rigorous, research devoid of context ultimately deprives users of understanding of the support factors that make research transferable to policy decisions or managing care of individual patients—it stands in the way of ‘doing the right thing’ in ‘real life’ settings. Appreciating that all problems are embedded in a greater context means that one should not ignore their interconnected and interdependent systemic nature, that is, every variable is simultaneously dependent and independent. This is the reason for the cascading effects and feedback loops witnessed in disease progression and policy efforts. We discuss the need for researchers to a‐priori consider the context of their research question as well as the structural relationships of the variables under investigation, which in turn provides the basis for choosing the most appropriate research design. We have a moral imperative to first ‘do the right thing’—ask questions that address the contextual needs of our patients, and then to ‘do it right’—choose the best research method to answer this contextually framed need. Only then will our research efforts have meaningful and lasting impacts on patient care.

Background: Timely diagnosis and treatment for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) requires a coordinated response from multiple providers. Rapid intervention is key to reducing mortality and morbidity. Activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory may occur through verbal communication and may also involve the secure sharing of electrocardiographic images between frontline health care providers and interventional cardiologists. To improve this response, we developed a quick, easy-to-use, privacy-compliant smartphone app, that is SMART AMI-ACS (Strategic Management of Acute Reperfusion and Therapies in Acute Myocardial Infarction Acute Coronary Syndromes), for real-time verbal communication and sharing of electrocardiographic images among health care providers in Ontario, Canada. The app further provides information about diagnosis, management, and risk calculators for patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome. Objective: This study aims to integrate the app into workflow processes to improve communication for STEMI activation, resulting in decreased treatment times, improved patient outcomes, and reduced unnecessary catheterization laboratory activation and transfer. Methods: Implementation of the app will be guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Acceptability, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to measure impact. The study will use quantitative registry data already being collected through the SMART AMI project (STEMI registry), the use of the SMART AMI app, and quantitative and qualitative survey data from physicians. Survey questions will be based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Descriptive quantitative analysis and thematic qualitative analysis of survey results will be conducted. Continuous variables will be described using either mean and SD or median and IQR values at pre- and postintervention periods by the study sites. Categorical variables, such as false activation, will be described as frequencies (percentages). For each outcome, an interrupted time series regression model will be fitted to evaluate the impact of the app. Results: The primary outcomes of this study include the usability, acceptability, and functionality of the app for physicians. This will be measured using electronic surveys to identify barriers and facilitators to app use. Other key outcomes will measure the implementation of the app by reviewing the timing-of-care intervals, false “avoidable” catheterization laboratory activation rates, and uptake and use of the app by physicians. Prospective evaluation will be conducted between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023. However, for the timing- and accuracy-of-care outcomes, registry data will be compared from January 1, 2019, to March 31, 2023. Data analysis is expected to be completed in Fall 2024, with the completion of a paper for publication anticipated by the end of 2024. Conclusions: Smartphone technology is well integrated into clinical practice and widely accessible. The proposed solution being tested is secure and leverages the accessibility of smartphones. Emergency medicine physicians can use this app to quickly, securely, and accurately transmit information ensuring faster and more appropriate decision-making for STEMI activation. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05290389; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05290389 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/55506

Many important questions in health professions education require datasets that are built from several sources, in some cases using data collected for a different purpose. In building and maintaining these datasets, project leaders will need to make decisions about the data. While such decisions are often construed as technical, there are several normative concerns, such as who should have access, how the data will be used, how products resulting from the data will be shared, and how to ensure privacy of the individuals the data is about is respected, etc. Establishing a framework for data governance can help project leaders in avoiding problems, related to such matters, that could limit what can be learned from the data or that might put the project (or future projects) at risk. In this paper, we highlight several normative challenges to be addressed when determining a data governance framework. Drawing from lessons in global health, we illustrate three kinds of normative challenges for projects that rely on data from multiple sources or involved partnerships across institutions or jurisdictions: (1) legal and regulatory requirements, (2) consent, and (3) equitable sharing and fair distribution.

BACKGROUND Timely diagnosis and treatment for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) requires a coordinated response from multiple providers. Rapid intervention is key to reducing mortality and morbidity. Activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory may occur through verbal communication and may also involve the secure sharing of electrocardiographic images between frontline health care providers and interventional cardiologists. To improve this response, we developed a quick, easy-to-use, privacy-compliant smartphone app, that is SMART AMI-ACS (Strategic Management of Acute Reperfusion and Therapies in Acute Myocardial Infarction Acute Coronary Syndromes), for real-time verbal communication and sharing of electrocardiographic images among health care providers in Ontario, Canada. The app further provides information about diagnosis, management, and risk calculators for patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome. OBJECTIVE This study aims to integrate the app into workflow processes to improve communication for STEMI activation, resulting in decreased treatment times, improved patient outcomes, and reduced unnecessary catheterization laboratory activation and transfer. METHODS Implementation of the app will be guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Acceptability, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to measure impact. The study will use quantitative registry data already being collected through the SMART AMI project (STEMI registry), the use of the SMART AMI app, and quantitative and qualitative survey data from physicians. Survey questions will be based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Descriptive quantitative analysis and thematic qualitative analysis of survey results will be conducted. Continuous variables will be described using either mean and SD or median and IQR values at pre- and postintervention periods by the study sites. Categorical variables, such as false activation, will be described as frequencies (percentages). For each outcome, an interrupted time series regression model will be fitted to evaluate the impact of the app. RESULTS The primary outcomes of this study include the usability, acceptability, and functionality of the app for physicians. This will be measured using electronic surveys to identify barriers and facilitators to app use. Other key outcomes will measure the implementation of the app by reviewing the timing-of-care intervals, false “avoidable” catheterization laboratory activation rates, and uptake and use of the app by physicians. Prospective evaluation will be conducted between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023. However, for the timing- and accuracy-of-care outcomes, registry data will be compared from January 1, 2019, to March 31, 2023. Data analysis is expected to be completed in Fall 2024, with the completion of a paper for publication anticipated by the end of 2024. CONCLUSIONS Smartphone technology is well integrated into clinical practice and widely accessible. The proposed solution being tested is secure and leverages the accessibility of smartphones. Emergency medicine physicians can use this app to quickly, securely, and accurately transmit information ensuring faster and more appropriate decision-making for STEMI activation. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05290389; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05290389 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/55506

Addressing global health crises requires a receptive and expedient policy environment to minimise delays in making available potentially life-saving technologies. Over time, the policy environment has adapted to ensure that communities have expedited access to promising technologies, such as vaccines, that can mitigate morbidity and mortality. Emergency authorisations are one such policy mechanism. While these have been employed successfully for several diseases, such as influenza, Ebola and COVID-19, the policy mechanism is tied to contexts where key bodies have designated the disease an ‘emergency’, whereas no equivalent mechanism exists for those failing to acquire the designation (eg, malaria and tuberculosis). In this paper, we examine ethical issues associated with emergency authorisations. We argue that there is no moral difference between those diseases considered emergencies and many that fail to be designated as such with respect to impact on affected communities. Thus, tying access to an expedient policy mechanism for approval to an emergency designation is ethically unjustified—it should be based on considerations of risks and benefits, the disease burden and the values of the communities that carry those risks and not contingent on if the disease is designated an emergency. We suggest the need to further enhance the policy environment to ensure access to similar expedited approval programmes irrespective of if a disease is an emergency. Levelling the field for access to expedited approval programmes across diseases can help in moving towards achieving global health equity but is not a panacea.

Background: Funding for educational innovations is increasingly scarce in academic medicine. While there is some funding for medical education research, this is often for discovery or application work, and there are few avenues for those with a heavy innovation focus to fund early work.Objective of the Innovation: The objective was to develop an intrapreneurial unit focused on medical education projects and scholarship.Development Process and Implementation: The GridlockED and TriagED games are educational or serious games that seek to teach health care learners about emergency medicine processes. Both games were cocreated with learners and brought to market in the past 3 years. All of the proceeds from the sales of these games have been accrued over time to create a new innovation fund. This fund seeks to support trainees and early career educators in their medical education projects.Outcomes: Sales for GridlockED began in March 2018 and the TriagED began in November 2019. In the first year, sales for GridlockED yielded a total of $9,534. After 18 months of sales, the fund has accrued a total of $14,530. The fund has helped finance the development of new games. Additionally, the fund awarded two internal $500 Kickstarter grants to assist with evaluating and improving two local education projects. The GridlockED and TriagED games have also spurred multiple academic opportunities for junior educators interested in this domain: five workshops, eight conference abstracts, two peer‐reviewed papers, and two research protocols are being developed.Conclusions: The GridlockED and TriagED games represent a new academically oriented, intrapreneurial approach to medical education work.