Emergency Medicine Research

Finding Better Ways to Improve Patient Outcomes

Through a network of 20 emergency departments, more than 800,000 patients are treated annually within Atrium Health. And, with more than 4,600 annual trauma code activations, our Level I trauma center at Carolinas Medical Center has the sixth highest trauma volume in the US.

Access to such a large, diverse patient population and a wide variety of injuries, symptoms and conditions provides our experienced research team the opportunity to explore novel ways to improve patient outcomes.

Built for High-Level Research

Because of the depth and breadth of our patient population, patient acuity, 24/7 research coverage, annual visit numbers, numerous clinical services, and experience with complex research protocols, our emergency medicine research program is well poised to conduct high-enrolling, quality interventional and observational clinical trials across many therapeutic areas.

Regardless of trial size or complexity, our emergency research program has the experience, expertise and resources to help improve patient care and outcomes through research in emergency department (ED), inpatient and outpatient settings.

Our emergency medicine research team has:

• Expertise in
  • Pediatric emergency medicine
  • Observational and randomized field trials
  • Qualitative methodology, shared decision-making in the ED and patient-centered outcomes
  • Complex diagnostic and therapeutic interventions with aggressive timelines with critically ill patients (sepsis, ACS and thrombolytics)
• Access to data collected from all visits at our 20 EDs
• Organization-wide initiatives, including Carolinas Stroke Network, Chest Pain Network, Carolinas Trauma Network, critical care network and Poison Control Center
• A collaborative working relationship with all admitting services (especially critical care, neurology and cardiology)

Members of research team include:

• Principle investigators (with +10 years’ experience)
• Project managers
• Research managers
• Research nurses
• Research coordinators
• Research interns
• Lab technicians
• Bilingual Spanish- and Russian-speaking staff

All members of our research team are cross-trained in all studies. Additionally, they have staggered shifts and provide 24/7 screening and recruitment coverage.

Our research equipment and clinical resources include:

• Electronic medical records
• Cath lab with PCI
• Cardiac, neurology, trauma, medical and pediatric ICUs
• Designated stroke center with neuro-endovascular service
• Hypothermia for cardiac arrest
• Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
• Ultrasound
• Toxicology
• Injury prevention program
• Pre-hospital medicine program
• Poison Control Center