Research in Emergency Settings

Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium – The ROC is a clinical research network of 11 Regional Clinical Centers (RCCs) and a Data Coordinating Center (DCC) that is studying better ways to help people who have cardiac arrest or severe traumatic injury in the out-of-hospital setting. The studies test if the use of promising drugs, tools, and techniques in real-world settings improves outcomes for these critically ill patients. In addition to the clinical trials, the ROC is enrolling patients into a registry of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and trauma events. ROC studies are being done in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems in 11 regions or cities in the United States and Canada. Jeremy Sugarman serves as Ethics Officer in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium.

Patient Perceptions of Research in Emergency Settings – Neal Dickert and Nancy Kass have recently conducted a study on patient perceptions of emergency research has focused on survivors of cardiac death and their views of the ethical issues in emergency research. (Link to article)

Dickert N, Kass N. Patients’ perception of research in emergency settings: A study of survivors of sudden cardiac death. Soc Sci Med 2009; 68: 183-191.

Sugarman JS, Sitlani C, Andrusiek D, Auferheide T, Bulger EM, Davis DP, Hoyt DB, Idris A, Kerby JD, Powell J, Schmidt T, Slutsky AS, Sopko G, Stephens S, Williams C, Nichol G, and the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Investigators. Is the enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities in research in the emergency setting equitable? Resuscitation 2009; 80: 644-649.

Tisherman SA, Powell JL, Schmidt TA, Auferheide TP, Kudenchuk PJ, Spence J, Climer D, Kelly D, Marcantonio A, Brown T, Sopko G, Kerber R, Sugarman J, Hoyt D and the ROC Investigators. Regulatory challenges for the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium. Circulation 2008; 118: 1585-1592.

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Dickert N, Sugarman J. Getting the ethics right regarding research in the emergency setting: lessons from the PolyHeme Study. Kennedy Inst Ethics J 2007; 17:153-169.

Sugarman J. Examining the provisions for research without consent in the emergency setting. Hastings Cent Rep Jan-Feb 2007; 12-13.