Current Research

Research # 1

South LA CPR Initiative

The South LA CPR Initiative is a 3-year community-engaged research effort exploring CPR and AED knowledge in Compton and Gardena. We’re now using what we’ve learned from local voices to help us create life-saving interventions that improve bystander response and cardiac arrest survival.

Research # 2

Medication Assisted Therapy/Substance Use Disorder

We have a dedicated substance use disorder navigator to help individuals with substance use disorder. We also partner with the Whole Person Care Substance Use Disorder program to ensure that our patients receive the right care. We are working in partnership with the Bridge program to assess opiate use disorder. We are also researching medication-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder.

Research # 3

Operationalization of Data Dashboards to Boost LA County Traffic Safety and Post-Crash Care

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the LA County EMS Agency, and The Lundquist Institute are taking the first steps to create an LA County regional data dashboard, with similarities to the NEMSIS national dashboard. This project it utilizing stakeholder inputs, assistance from NEMSIS leadership, and LA County data to produce a dashboard mock-up and proposal for operationalization of the dashboard in usable web-based format. This project, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, builds upon a preliminary static dashboard and is operationalizing it into a live, interactive, usable, and publicly available website.

Research # 4

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Novel EMS Mobile App to Improve Post-Crash Care

The UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine, in collaboration with Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the LA County EMS Agency, and The Lundquist Institute is evaluating an LA County EMS protocol mobile application to assess its effect on paramedic performance, and identify the application’s usability characteristics.

Research # 5

Southwest Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Networks (SW SIREN)

The Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Network (SIREN) is a clinical trials network funded by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). The goal of SIREN is to improve the outcomes by identifying effective treatments given in the earliest stages of care.

The Southwest Network Clinical Center (Hub) for SIREN Emergency Care Clinical Trials is a cooperative center with co-equal components based at UCLA and Harbor-UCLA. Together, the Hub oversees activities at spoke sites throughout the Southwest region that serve as performance sites. SIREN projects at Harbor-UCLA include POST-ICECAP (Patterns of Survivors’ Recovery Trajectories in the ICECAP Trial) and KESETT (Ketamine add-on therapy for Established Status Epilepticus Treatment Trial).

Research # 6

Characterizing Non-DHS Managed Medi-Cal Specialty Referrals to the Harbor UCLA Medical Center, Olive View Medical Center, and Los Angeles General Emergency Departments

The Out of Plan Study, using a mixed-methods approach, aims to understand the experiences of non-DHS managed Medi-Cal patients in accessing timely and appropriate specialty care following discharge from DHS Emergency Departments.

Early Convalescent Plasma for High-Risk Outpatients With COVID-19

The administration of Covid-19 convalescent plasma to high-risk outpatients within 1 week after the onset of symptoms of Covid-19 did not prevent disease progression.

Comparison of Outcomes of Antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) Trial

For the treatment of appendicitis, antibiotics were non-inferior to appendectomy based on the results of a standard health status measure. In the antibiotics group, nearly 3 in 10 participants had undergone appendectomy by 90 days. Participants with an appendicolith were at a higher risk for appendectomy and complications than those without an appendicolith.

A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effect of a Double Check on the Detection of Medication Errors

The use of a double-check by two nurses has been advocated as a key error-prevention strategy. This study aims to determine how often a double-check is used for high-alert medications and whether it increases error detection.

A Multifaceted Intervention Improves Prescribing for Acute Respiratory Infection for Adults and Children in Emergency Department and Urgent Care Settings

It is common to prescribe antibiotics during emergency department and urgent care center visits for viral acute respiratory infections. We evaluate the comparative effectiveness of an antibiotic stewardship intervention adapted for acute care ambulatory settings (adapted intervention) to a stewardship intervention that additionally incorporates behavioral nudges (enhanced intervention) in reducing inappropriate prescriptions.

Multicenter Comparison of Nonsupine vs. Supine Positioning During Intubation in the Emergency Department: A National Emergency Airway Registry (NEAR) Study

Head-up positioning for preoxygenation and ramping for morbidly obese patients are well-accepted techniques, but the effect of head-up positioning with full torso elevation for all intubations is controversial. We compared first-pass success, adverse events, and glottic view between supine (SP) and nonsupine (NSP) positioning for emergency department (ED) patients undergoing orotracheal intubation.

Screening for Adolescent Alcohol Use in the Emergency Department: What Does It Tell Us About Cannabis, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use?

The pediatric emergency department (PED) represents an opportune time for alcohol and drug screening. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recommends a two-question alcohol screen for adolescents as a predictor of alcohol and drug misuse. A multi-site PED study was conducted to determine the association between the NIAAA two-question alcohol screen and adolescent cannabis use disorders (CUD), cigarette smoking, and lifetime use of other drugs.

Buccally Absorbed vs. Intravenous Prochlorperazine for Treatment of Migraine Headaches

This involved carrying out a randomized double-blind clinical trial to compare the efficacy of buccally absorbed prochlorperazine (BAP) to intravenous prochlorperazine (IVP) for the abortive treatment of migraine headaches.

Teaching Endotracheal Intubation Using a Cadaver vs. a Manikin-based Model: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The optimal method to train novice learners to perform endotracheal intubation (ETI) is unknown. The study objective was to compare two models: unembalmed cadaver vs. simulation manikin.

Subdissociative-Dose Ketamine Is Effective for Treating Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Pain

Subdissociative-dose ketamine (SDDK) is used to treat acute pain. This study was a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial that sought to determine if SDDK is effective in relieving acute exacerbations of chronic pain.

Current Research