Research Areas

Research being done in the area of critical care includes the effectiveness of mechanical circulatory support (i.e. ECPR), management of cardiac arrest, resuscitation education, and peer coaching.

The Medical Education Division at UH continues to generate scholarship within emergency medicine and the broader medical education community. This scholarship has led to publications, national and regional research presentations, and national didactics at health professions education conferences. Faculty within the Medical Education Division have broad interests in curriculum development; trainee assessment; competency-based medical education; program evaluation; and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Current projects include the evaluation of a quality improvement program on faculty feedback to residents, assessment of social determinants of health in medical students, and visiting student acting internship recruitment practices.

The Division of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center provides medical command and oversight to several local fire departments and prehospital agencies including the UH Ground Critical Care Transport Team and UH AirMed (air medical service in partnership with PHI Health, LLC). The Division is actively engaged in prehospital medicine research and welcomes residents and medical students with this research interest. It has presented abstracts at all major conferences, such as NAEMSP, SAEM, and ACEP, and looks forward to expanding its research activities in the near future. Learn more about the Division of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine.

The Global & Community Health Division developed and oversees the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center HIV and Syphilis Testing and Care Collaborative (HIVTCC). The HIVTCC is a collaboration between the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Department of Infectious Diseases, Core Laboratory, and the Cuyahoga Department of Public Health. This platform improves HIV and syphilis linkage to care through augmented testing, research and monitoring. Using the FOCUS program funded by Gilead Sciences, the Division monitors HIV and HCV testing with linkage to care and initiating PrEP for at-risk populations.

In collaboration with the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences Geospatial Lab at Case Western Reserve University, we are geospatially mapping common pathologies, as well as non-compliance within our patient population, so we can better understand the barriers faced in the Greater Cleveland Area. Current research includes causes of asthma recidivism, opiate overdose trends and demographics, and risk factors for medication non-compliance among our patient population.

The Sports Medicine Division is focused on many topics regarding emergency medicine and sports medicine. Topics previously researched include musculoskeletal ultrasound for management of shoulder dislocations in the emergency department, epidemiology of shoulder injuries in high school athletes, cervical spine injuries, and injury epidemiology in endurance activity events. Additional topics that are currently being investigated include use of ultrasound for epiphyseal injuries in young athletes, splenic ultrasound with mononucleosis, musculoskeletal ultrasound use with septic joints, orthobiologics in the setting of chronic tendon injuries, and musculoskeletal ultrasound use for acute muscle or tendon injuries.

Medical toxicologists are experts involved in the care of people who come into contact with drugs, substances or other agents causing potentially adverse health effects. Our division includes three medical toxicology physicians who are available to provide emergency and inpatient consultation services at UH CMC. Furthermore, the division assists with management of patients at other UH facilities through the UH Transfer Center. Topics previously researched include buprenorphine microinduction, the management of critically ill poisoned patients, and the effects of substance use disorder on patients. Topics currently being investigated include the demographic disparities of drug testing in patients, and the management of microinductions in critically ill patients.

The Division has core ultrasound faculty and several adjunct faculty across multiple specialties who have completed an emergency ultrasound fellowship or have expertise in advanced ultrasound techniques. This includes including advanced transthoracic echocardiography, resuscitative and intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography, and musculoskeletal ultrasound through fellowship training in anesthesia-critical care, cardiothoracic anesthesiology, and sports medicine. Topics recently and/or currently researched include: comparison of cardiac views on image quality and acquisition time, impact of POCUS on time to intervention in patients with a pericardial effusion, perception versus observed competency in POCUS among EM residents, splenic ultrasound with mononucleosis, and trends in image acquisition and interpretation across the hospital system.