Department of Emergency Medicine News and Stories

In 2023, the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine celebrated the launch of the CU Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative and the Program for EMS and Prehospital Care, while introducing brand new research in emergency airway management, mental health, critical trauma care, and more.

Emergency medicine faculty grew education and collaboration efforts by bringing renowned, national leaders in medicine to campus, hosting seminars and discussions on firearm injury prevention, leading a toxicology fellowship, presenting research at conferences worldwide, and mentoring military collaborators, researchers, and students.

Colleen Miracle | December 18, 2023

Each year, an estimated five million Americans age 60 or older will experience some form of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Daniel Lindberg, MD, professor of emergency medicine in the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has seen an increase reflected in elder abuse cases in the emergency department at UCHealth.

Colleen Miracle | November 30, 2023

Last month, the Cape-Colorado-Combat (C3) Global Trauma Network received two research grants totaling $4.7 million from the United States Department of Defense (DoD). One study will assess how timing of wound care and antibiotics impact infectious complications and multi-organ failure in patients with high-risk injuries. The second will assess timing of critical interventions in patients with life-threatening bleeding from trauma, known as hemorrhagic shock. Both four-year projects will build on the C3 Network’s decade-long experience in collaboratively studying injured patients in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Colleen Miracle | November 10, 2023

Emmy Betz, MD, MPH, director of the University of Colorado Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative and professor of emergency medicine in the CU School of Medicine, led a study that examined Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) cases for older adults in six states. The study was funded by the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research and published earlier this month in the journal Clinical Gerontologist.

Colleen Miracle | September 20, 2023

The negative impacts of opioids and drug overdoses continue to rise, and toxicologists are helping to lead the way to address the crisis.

Colleen Miracle | August 16, 2023

Christopher Knoepke, PhD, MSW, LCSW, law enforcement lead for the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, received a two-year grant from the Fund for a Safer Future and is leading a project with the Colorado Attorney General’s office and law enforcement agencies throughout the state to create new videos and discussion guides on extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs).

Colleen Miracle | August 15, 2023

The United States has more than 10 times the number of mass shooting incidents than other developed countries, yet little research has shown the distribution and types of shootings, geographically.

Colleen Miracle | July 26, 2023

For patients with severe respiratory failure, tracheal intubation is a life-saving procedure. Health care providers perform intubation in critical care settings using one of two devices: direct or video laryngoscopes.

Colleen Miracle | July 10, 2023

Following worldwide concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on mental health, Ian Stanley, PhD, assistant research professor of emergency medicine in the CU School of Medicine and psychological health lead for the Center for Combat Medicine and Battlefield (COMBAT) Research, began investigating whether the pandemic impacted military veterans differently than non-veterans.

Colleen Miracle | June 26, 2023

Bethany Kwan, PhD, associate professor of emergency medicine, quoted on accessibility for monoclonal antibody treatments.

JAMA Network | April 05, 2023

On Wednesday, The Center for Combat Medicine and Battlefield (COMBAT) Research hosted leaders from Uniformed Services University (USU) on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus for a research affiliation agreement ceremony to highlight the continued research partnership between USU and the CU School of Medicine.

Colleen Miracle | March 17, 2023

Emergency medical services (EMS), or prehospital care teams, are the first medical contact for people needing immediate care and because of that they can have significant impact on how treatment will continue. Due to environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors, some patients don’t get the care they need, presenting EMS leadership with challenges to improve access to quality and equitable care.

Colleen Miracle | February 21, 2023

Last week, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), launched a first-of-its-kind national data dashboard of non-fatal opioid overdoses across the country.

Colleen Miracle | December 16, 2022

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has identified firearm suicide prevention as a key priority, but critical gaps remain in preventing deaths by firearm among service members. According to the 2020 DoD Annual Suicide Report, approximately 60-80% of suicides among service members are enacted with a firearm.

Colleen Miracle | December 06, 2022

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow visited the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus on Monday to learn more about current programs and research on the campus that address the U.S. military’s medical needs, including solutions in combat casualty care, critical and emergency care, surgical trauma, and acute mental health. The Center for Combat Medicine and Battlefield (COMBAT) Research hosted the visit that included additional CU leadership and research groups for a supportive discussion on current military medical challenges.

Colleen Miracle | December 02, 2022

On Veterans Day, we honor those who serve and have served in the U.S. military. For two University of Colorado School of Medicine researchers, Veterans Day is also a time to reflect on the importance of mental health support for veterans at risk for suicide. Through intervention strategies and close collaboration with veterans and clinicians, they are working on strategies and tactics to prevent veteran suicides by firearm.

Colleen Miracle | November 11, 2022

The focus on providing care for those on the front lines continues to grow with more investments in research to improve care for service members on battlegrounds. That research was on full display at this year’s Military Health Science Research Symposium (MHSRS), hosted by the Department of Defense (DOD), where researchers and faculty members from the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine presented new scientific findings. 

Colleen Miracle | September 30, 2022

Effect of Use of a Bougie vs Endotracheal Tube With Stylet on Successful Intubation on the First Attempt Among Critically Ill Patients Undergoing Tracheal Intubation

JAMA Network | December 08, 2021

A lot remains elusive about COVID-19 -- including what to expect from the new Omicron variant. But scientists do know a few things: the vaccine offers the best protection yet and, more recently, that monoclonal antibodies help prevent severe illness. Ragan Sasaki was fully vaccinated when she caught the virus in October. Monoclonal antibodies helped her get better. Dr. Adit Ginde is an emergency physician at UC Health and professor of emergency medicine at the CU School of Medicine. He explains how the treatment works.

CPR | December 02, 2021

Association Between mRNA Vaccination and COVID-19 Hospitalization and Disease Severity.

JAMA Network | November 04, 2021

People who get COVID-19 have a treatment option that can significantly reduce their odds of hospitalization, but it’s not a substitute for trying to avoid infection in the first place through vaccination, doctors say.

The Denver Post | September 10, 2021

How monoclonal antibody treatment can protect high-risk Covid patients

NBC News | August 31, 2021

Dr. Bebarta was awarded a highly competitive NIH R21 research grant to study the use of thiosulfate for chlorine gas exposures, which can cause deadly respiratory symptoms in military or industrial exposures.

Unknown Author | August 19, 2021

“It feels like there’s this wonderful [burst of] topics being studied, the questions being asked, the answers we’re getting, as well as the growth of the people doing the work, which is what we’ve needed for decades,” Emmy Betz, MD, MPH, associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in an interview. “We’re still way behind, but hopefully it will continue,” noted Betz, who received 2 NIH awards.

JAMA Network | August 04, 2021

As severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination coverage increases in the United States, there is a need to understand the real-world effectiveness against severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and among people at increased risk for poor outcomes.

Oxford Academic | May 01, 2021

UCHealth doctors urge recently diagnosed COVID patients to consider monoclonal antibody treatment

KDVR | April 27, 2021

A Year In, Here's What We Know About Vitamin D For Preventing COVID

NPR | April 14, 2021

In 2010, total U.S. traffic deaths fell to their lowest level since the 1950s – due in part to more motorists buying into “buckling up and embracing safety innovations.” Motor vehicle death rates have remained roughly steady since that time despite more people driving.

The Hill | April 08, 2021

“We say we are working on solving the Department of Defense’s toughest clinical problems so it benefits the service members,” service member and UCHealth Doctor Vik Bebarta said. Bebarta also leads the CU Anschutz COMBAT Center. “We also want to benefit our Colorado community as a whole.”

9News | March 31, 2021

The nation has been coping with the pandemic for more than a year, and in this time, researchers have learned a great deal about how to treat COVID-19. Yet they have also been faced with what they still must learn, including how to reach the individuals who have been most dramatically impacted by the disease.

Unknown Author | March 18, 2021

Training Clinical And Public Health Leaders In Climate And Health

Health Affairs | December 15, 2020

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) has been shown to improve outcomes for patients dealing with substance use disorder. The University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine is a leader in bringing MAT to the emergency setting, but there is much work to do before MAT is available to most emergency patients.

Dr. Comstock, in partnership with the Hoppe Lab, was awarded the EMF/NIDA Mentored Training Award in Substance Use Disorders Science Dissemination to fund their project: Defining and Addressing Barriers to Buprenorphine Prescribing in Emergency Departments Across a Healthcare System. 

Unknown Author | December 11, 2020

As we learn more and more about the dangers of opioid pain medications, alternative approaches for chronic pain are desperately needed, especially for older patients where the side effects of pain medications can be the most problematic. Dr. Lauren Abbate received a grant from the Emergency Medicine Foundation to study non-pharmacologic treatments, including exercise and weight management, for non-traumatic knee pain in older veterans.

Unknown Author | October 09, 2020

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) today awarded Denver Health and Hospital Authority a $3 million cooperative agreement to demonstrate how a Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS) can improve medical surge and clinical specialty capabilities – including trauma, burn or other specialty care – during a national emergency and save more lives.

Public Health Emergency | September 30, 2020

The C3 (Cape-Colorado-COMBAT) Global Trauma Network was awarded a pair of research grants funded by the US Department of Defense to study trauma outcomes in the Western Cape of South Africa over a 5-year period. The study is nicknamed “EpiC” (the official title is, “Epidemiology and Outcomes of Combat-Relevant Prolonged Trauma Care: a Prospective Multicenter Prehospital Study in South Africa.”)

In this exciting study, the co-PI’s, Dr. Nee-Kofi Mould-Millman and Dr. Adit Ginde, have brought together a large team of multi-disciplinary collaborators and co-investigators from the University of Colorado, Denver Health, the US military, and multiple institutions in South Africa, led by Stellenbosch University. This EMS-trauma-emergency medicine collaborative project leverages 6-years’ worth of research experience and infrastructure built by the team.

The study will help answer several high-priority questions on how time and early resuscitative interventions impact morbidity and mortality in critically-injured trauma patients. The answers to these questions are needed to improve care of injured military and civilian populations, worldwide. The team plans to recruit about 100,000 trauma patients in their exceptionally high-trauma environment in the Western Cape of South Africa. 

The research team anticipates that this project will lay the foundation for additional focused studies on specific trauma sub-populations, for example, persons with severe traumatic brain injuries and those with hemorrhagic shock.

Internal Article | September 09, 2020

The explosion of big data promises potential breakthroughs in disease treatments, but, just as in the development of new drugs, scientists and clinicians must exercise caution in how they apply algorithms and other technologies, according to a CU Anschutz panel of experts

CU Anschutz News | February 21, 2019

“While these are actual fears the public holds, it is important to realize that CPR is lifesaving and should be rendered to collapsed individuals regardless of gender, race or ethnicity,” says lead study author Dr. Sarah M. Perman, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado.

New York Post | November 05, 2018

Around half of all Americans older than 65 live in a home with a firearm. And one in three senior citizens dies with some form of dementia. By one estimate, by 2050, as many as 12 million people with dementia may live in homes with guns.

PBS News Hour | June 25, 2018

The University of Colorado and Brigham and Women's Hospital published "Incidence of Speech Recognition Errors in the Emergency Department" to explore more about the mistakes that had entered the EHR system through the ED. How many errors had actually been introduced? Were they trivial, or did they have the potential to impact the quality of care or create medical liability?

For the Record | April 01, 2017

Using therapeutic hypothermia to treat comatose patients who have experienced an in- or out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and who have nonshockable initial rhythms can increase their chance of survival neurologically intact, new research suggests^[1].

Medscape | November 24, 2015