Department of Emergency Medicine

A black and white photo of a group of people posing for a photo together
In the 1960s, Pittsburgh hosted one of the first professional ambulance services in the nation, Freedom House. A new partnership is building on that legacy and once again changing the face of prehospital care.
A man in blue scrubs standing by a helicopter
Diagnosing a heart attack can be difficult, especially for prehospital emergency personnel. Using computer modeling, a team led by nursing’s Salah Al-Zaiti identified 37% more heart attacks in a study published in Nature Communications.
Nicholas Goodmanson and Rachel Mennies
Rachel Mennies, spouse of critical care doctor and Pitt alumnus Nicholas Goodmanson (MED ’13, ’16, ’18), writes about the worries and moments of connection she and other partners of physicians are experiencing during the pandemic.
Alyson Stover in a black shirt
Virtual visits with health care providers are becoming more important than ever during the pandemic. Pitt’s Alyson Stover is working to bring telehealth to occupational therapy and other practitioners beyond the primary care clinic.
a sketch of the backpack in stretcher mode, with a person/dummy lying on it
A multidisciplinary team led by Ron Poropatich is working on a specialized medical backpack for the U.S. Army that could help injured patients in the field survive until they reach a fully staffed hospital.
After reviewing thousands of studies of shift and emergency workers, Pitt researchers developed five guidelines to help combat fatigue, including limiting shift duration, providing caffeine and allowing naps while on duty.