Report on 2003 CAEP Research Grants Competition

News

CJEM 2004;6(2):132-133

2003 marked the 7th year of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Research Grants Competition. This is a unique, CAEP developed, competition open to CAEP members with less than 6 years of clinical experience post-residency training. Over the years, this competition has allowed CAEP researchers and their collaborators to compete for grants of up to $5000 in value to conduct emergency medicine research. The great majority of the previously funded projects have been presented at the CAEP annual scientific conferences and other national and international meetings.

This competition is made possible by Hoffman- LaRoche Limited (Roche), who provides generous unrestricted educational grants to sponsor the event on an annual basis. Hoffman-LaRoche has been a major contributor and supporter of emergency medicine research in Canada and they are the sole contributor to this research competition.

This year, the CAEP Research Grants Competition received a record 30 submissions, and a total of $30 000 was awarded to the top 7 ranked projects. This increase in submissions is a testament to the growing activity of emergency medicine researchers in Canada and, unfortunately, to the need to seek additional sponsorship to support this competition. The Research Committee would like to commend all the applicants on their efforts. The quality of the submissions improves every year.

Each grant was reviewed independently by two senior Canadian emergency medicine researchers. The following list outlines the name and affiliation of the principal investigator, the title of the project, and the funding allocated by CAEP.

1. Valerie DeMaio, MD. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina Medical School, Chapel Hill, NC.
   Location-specific cost effectiveness of public access defibrillation. $5000
2. Alena Spacek, MD. Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont.
   A study to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the combination of a negative computed tomography scan of the head and normal cerebrospinal fluid in ruling out a subarachnoid hemorrhage. $4587
3. Sarah Reid, MD. Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont.
   Single-dose activated charcoal for gastric decontamination: a survey of Canadian pediatric emergency physicians. $3199.21
4. Vicky Breakey, MD. Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
   Residents' attitude and practice regarding the use of analgesia and sedation for lumbar punctures in pediatric patients. $4962
5. Clare Atzema, MD. Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
   Adverse events in Low risk ACS patients Receiving continuous cardiac Monitoring in the Emergency Department (ALARMED). $4095
6. Douglas Martin, MD. Department of Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.
   Pain, opioids, and the competence to consent. $4924
7. Jerome Fan MD. Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont.
   A prospective validation of the Triage Risk Screening Tool for elders in a Canadian emergency department. $3200