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About Lauren Westafer

Present	DO, Baystate Health ‐ Department of Emergency Medicine
Institution Organization Position Type Position Title Time Period to Options Current Position Affiliate my profile with this Institution

Medicine and Health Sciences

Baystate Emergency Medicine

759 Chestnut Street

Springfield, MA 01199

Treatment of Pediatric Behavioral Health Patients with Intravenous and Intramuscular Chemical Restraints: Results from a Nationwide Sample of Emergency Departments (Meng-Shiou Shieh, Penny Pekow, Kimball Prentiss, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2023)

Background: Behavioral health crises in pediatric Emergency Department (ED) patients are increasingly common. Chemical restraints can be utilized for patients who present imminent danger to self or others. We sought to describe the use of ...

Bilateral Emboli and Highest Heart Rate Predict Hospitalization of Emergency Department Patients With Acute, Low-Risk Pulmonary Embolism (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2023)

Study objective: Some patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) will suffer adverse clinical outcomes despite being low risk by clinical decision rules. Emergency physician decisionmaking processes regarding which low-risk patients require hospitalization are unclear. Higher ...

Barriers and Facilitators to the Outpatient Management of Low-risk Pulmonary Embolism from the Emergency Department (Lauren Westafer, Erica Jessen, Michael Zampi, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2023)

Study objective: Although recommended by professional society guidelines, outpatient management of low-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) from emergency departments (EDs) in the US remains uncommon. The objective of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators ...

Hot off the Press: Blood on blood: massive transfusion protocols in older trauma patients (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2023)

Major trauma in older patients is increasingly common. We discuss an article by Hohle et al published in Academic Emergency Medicine, December 2022, on the association between mortality and the ratio of packed red blood ...

Managing Pulmonary Embolism (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2023)

The Role of Graduate Medical Education in the Fight Against Health Misinformation (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2023)

Implementation of an automated, user-centered point-of-care ultrasound workflow improves documentation and billing (Brian Thompson, Elizabeth Schoenfeld, Lauren Westafer, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2023)

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a central component of emergency medical care. However, clinicians often fail to adequately document their exams, causing problems for downstream clinicians and quality assurance (QA) processes as well as loss ...

Hot off the Press: Sedation or analgesia methods for reduction of anterior shoulder dislocation (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2022)

Anterior shoulder dislocation is the most common type of dislocation treated in the emergency department, and approaches to sedation and analgesia vary widely. We discuss a systematic review and network meta-analysis, published in Academic Emergency ...

Experiences of Transgender and Gender Expansive Physicians (Lauren Westafer and Eleanor Ragone) All Scholarly Works (2022)

Importance: Although LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority) physicians experience bias in the workplace, there is a paucity of data on the experiences of physicians who identify specifically as ...

"Just give them a choice": Patients' perspectives on starting medications for opioid use disorder in the ED (Elizabeth Schoenfeld, Lauren Westafer, Jillian Tozloski, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2022)

Study objectives: Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) prescribed in the Emergency Department (ED) have the potential to save lives and help people start and maintain recovery. We sought to explore patient perspectives regarding the ...

Hot off the Press: We care a lot: the EmPATH study (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2022)

Psychiatric attendances and prolonged delays in transfer of care are common in Emergency Medicine. We discuss an article by Kim et al published in Academic Emergency Medicine, February 2022, on the effect of establishing a ...

Risk for Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism in Patients With Subsegmental Pulmonary Embolism Managed Without Anticoagulation (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2022)

At Fifty Annals Finds Itself in a Hybrid Era, Straddling the Print and Digital Worlds: The Future of Both Platforms Depends on Usability (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2022)

Hot off the Press: Stop fallin': Geriatric fall prevention in the ED (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2022)

Falling is the commonest cause of traumatic injury triggering older adults in the United States to present to the Emergency Department (ED). We discuss an article by Hammouda et al published in Academic Emergency Medicine, ...

"This is Part of Emergency Medicine Now" A Qualitative Assessment of Emergency Clinicians' Facilitators of and Barriers to Initiating Buprenorphine (Elizabeth Schoenfeld, William Soares, Emily Schaffer, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2021)

Objectives: Despite evidence demonstrating the safety and efficacy of buprenorphine for the treatment of emergency department (ED) patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), incorporation into clinical practice has been highly variable. We explored barriers and ...

What are the clinical effects of the different emergency department imaging options for suspected renal colic? A scoping review (Erik Doty, Stephen DiGiacomo, Bridget Gunn, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2021)

Objectives: Clinicians have minimal guidance regarding the clinical consequences of each radiologic imaging option for suspected renal colic in the emergency department (ED), particularly in relation to patient-centered outcomes. In this scoping review, we sought ...

Clinical prediction rule for SARS-CoV-2 infection from 116 U.S. emergency departments 2-22-2021 (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2021)

Objectives: Accurate and reliable criteria to rapidly estimate the probability of infection with the novel coronavirus-2 that causes the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) and associated disease (COVID-19) remain an urgent unmet need, especially in ...

Diagnostic Testing Differences Between Advanced Practice Providers and Physicians (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2021)

The use of advanced practice providers (APPs) in emergency departments (EDs) has increased over the past two decades. As APPs have truncated training compared with emergency physicians, some have raised the concern that some APPs ...

Feasibility and efficacy of a decision aid for emergency department patients with suspected ureterolithiasis: protocol for an adaptive randomized controlled trial (Elizabeth Schoenfeld, Kye Poronsky, Lauren Westafer, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2021)

Background: Approximately 2 million patients present to emergency departments in the USA annually with signs and symptoms of ureterolithiasis (or renal colic, the pain from an obstructing kidney stone). Both ultrasound and CT scan can ...

Hot off the Press: The RAMPED Trial - Methoxyflurane for Analgesia in the Emergency Department (Lauren Westafer) All Scholarly Works (2021)

Pain management is one of the primary tenets of emergency department care. Oligoanalgesia is a frequent occurrence in the ED and earlier administration of analgesic results in improved patient outcomes. Patients may wait hours to ...

An Integrated Mobile Acute Care Service Enhances Value (Andrew Artenstein, Nathan Stanaway, Amy Roy, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2020)

Reducing the cost of care while enhancing its quality and experience are essential components to success in value-based care. Because emergency department (ED) and hospital settings represent high-cost environments, the authors sought to reduce their ...

Outpatient Management of Patients Following Diagnosis of Acute Pulmonary Embolism (Lauren Westafer, Meng-Shiou Shieh, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2020)

Objective: While guidelines recommend outpatient management of patients with low-risk pulmonary embolism (PE), little is known about the disposition of patients with PE diagnosed in United States (US) Emergency Departments (EDs). We sought to determine ...

Safety Assessment of a Noninvasive Respiratory Protocol for Adults with COVID-19 (William Soares, Elizabeth Schoenfeld, Paul Visintainer, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2020)

As evidence emerged supporting noninvasive strategies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related respiratory distress, we implemented a noninvasive COVID-19 respiratory protocol (NCRP) that encouraged high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) and self-proning across our healthcare system. To assess ...

Uncertainty as a critical determinant of antibiotic prescribing in patients with an asthma exacerbation: a qualitative study (Mihaela Stefan, Kerry Spitzer, Sehar Zulfiqar, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2020)

Objective: To identify factors that influence providers' decisions to prescribe antibiotics in patients presenting to the hospital with an asthma exacerbation. Methods: We performed semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of providers including sixteen hospitalists, ...

No evidence of increasing COVID-19 in health care workers after implementation of high flow nasal cannula: A safety evaluation (Lauren Westafer, William Soares, Doug Salvador, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2020)

Background: Initial recommendations discouraged high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in COVID-19 patients, driven by concern for healthcare worker (HCW) exposure. Noting high morbidity and mortality from early invasive mechanical ventilation, we implemented a COVID-19 respiratory ...