Measuring and Explaining Computed Tomography Use in the United States and Canada: A Consideration of Health Economics, Use Versus Appropriateness, and Interpreting Potential Conflict of Interest : November 2013 Annals of Emergency Medicine Journal Club - 24/10/13

Doi : 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.08.026

David L. Schriger, MD, MPH ^a : Guest Contributor, Michael L. Callaham, MD ^b : Guest Contributor, Tyler W. Barrett, MD, MSCI ^c : Guest Contributor
^a University of California, Los Angeles, CA
^b University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
^c Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Section editors: Tyler W. Barrett, MD, MSCI; David L. Schriger, MD, MPH

Plan

Discussion Points

Editor’s Note: You are reading the 36th installment of Annals of Emergency Medicine Journal Club. This Journal Club refers to the Berdahl et al^{1Berdahl C.T., Vermeulen M.J., Larson D.B., et al. Emergency department computed tomography utilization in the United States and Canada Ann Emerg Med 2013 ; 62 : 486-494 [inter-ref]

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références} article and the accompanying editorial by Schwartz,^{2Schwartz D.T. US emergency physicians order too many computed tomography scans—or do they? Ann Emerg Med 2013 ; 62 : 495-497 [inter-ref]

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références} published in the November 2013 edition. This bimonthly feature seeks to improve the critical appraisal skills of emergency physicians and other interested readers through a guided critique of actual Annals of Emergency Medicine articles. Each Journal Club will pose questions that encourage readers—be they clinicians, academics, residents, or medical students—to critically appraise the literature. During a 2- to 3-year cycle, we plan to ask questions that cover the main topics in research methodology and critical appraisal of the literature. To do this, we will select articles that use a variety of study designs and analytic techniques. These may or may not be the most clinically important articles in a specific issue, but they are articles that cover the clinical epidemiology curriculum. Journal Club entries are published in 2 phases. In the first phase, a list of questions about the article is published in the issue in which the article appears. Questions are rated “novice,” (

) “intermediate,” (

), and “advanced” (

) so that individuals planning a journal club can assign the right question to the right student. The answers to this journal club will be published in the April 2014 issue. US residency directors will have immediate access to the answers through the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors Share Point Web site. International residency directors can gain access to the questions by going to annalsjc/ and following the directions. Thus, if a program conducts its journal club within 5 months of the publication of the questions, no one will have access to the published answers except the residency director. The purpose of delaying the publication of the answers is to promote discussion and critical review of the literature by residents and medical students and discourage regurgitation of the published answers. It is our hope that the Journal Club will broaden Annals of Emergency Medicine’s appeal to residents and medical students. We are interested in receiving feedback about this feature. Please e-mail journalclub@acep.org with your comments.