ACEP Frontline - Emergency Medicine

Recorded live at Michigan ACEP at Mackinac, Dr. Ryan Stanton talks with Dr. Evan Schwarz, a UCLA emergency physician, medical toxicologist, and addiction medicine specialist, about the evolving landscape of substance use disorder in the ED. Dr. Schwarz explains why opioid overdose deaths are trending down despite what emergency physicians see day to day, and how the drug supply has shifted from prescription opioids and heroin to fentanyl, kratom, xylazine, and medetomidine adulterants. The conversation covers practical buprenorphine dosing, including why higher doses are often needed and safe, how to use the COW score to assess readiness, microdosing for patients not yet ready to start, and the role of harm reduction and peer recovery coaches in getting patients into treatment. Dr. Schwarz will present this topic again at ACEP26 in Chicago.

In this Frontline Weekend Playlist episode, hear Dr. Marianne Wallis, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, present on LVAD emergencies from the Fourth Annual Leadership Symposium & EM: High Risk – Do Not Miss Conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Using a case-based approach, she covers how LVADs work, how to read the controller and alarms, and how to recognize and manage the most common emergencies — pump thrombus, suction events, arrhythmias, infection, and bleeding. The throughline: these patients can largely be managed like any other, with key exceptions — defibrillation and cardioversion are safe, and chest compressions are reserved for cases where the device itself is failing.

Recorded in Dallas at the Partner Collaborative, Dr. Ryan Stanton welcomes back Dr. Christopher Baugh, MD, MBA, FACEP, chair-elect of the Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF), for a conversation on the role of specialty-specific research in emergency medicine. Dr. Baugh discusses EMF's 50-plus year history funding over 700 investigators, how the foundation's scientific review committee and volunteer board evaluate grant applications, and why supporting early-career researchers, including students and residents, is a key priority. The two also discuss how AI and large datasets are lowering barriers to high-quality research, how EMF structures industry-sponsored grants at arm's length to protect research integrity, and how the foundation is funded primarily through donations.

In this episode of ACEP Frontline, we sit down with Joseph Leary, DO, MPH, to explore how a single decision in a rural community can ripple across an entire health care system. Early in his career, while working as an emergency physician in the small mining town of Craig, Colorado, Dr. Leary witnessed the abrupt closure of a labor and delivery unit at a critical access hospital, an event that would shape his path into health policy and advocacy.He shares how that closure didn’t just affect obstetric care, but fundamentally altered emergency preparedness in the region. With fewer resources, physician departures, and pregnant patients left without local options, the impact was immediate and far-reaching.Dr. Leary reflects on that pivotal moment and how it sparked a deeper question: how can frontline physicians influence the systems that shape patient care? His journey offers a powerful look at the intersection of emergency medicine, rural health, and policy, and why physician voices are essential in these conversations.This episode highlights the real-world consequences of health care decisions and the growing need for advocacy to protect access and outcomes in vulnerable communities.