Specialty Emergency Medicine Facility Oakland Medical Center Emergency Medicine Address 280 W. MacArthur Blvd. Oakland CA 94611 (entrance on Howe St.) Map & Directions Telephone Advice/Information: (510) 752-1190 E-mail your doctor View your preventive services

About Me

Practicing medicine in the Bay Area has been a dream come true for me. Prior to moving here from the East Coast, I had always wondered what it would be like to live so close to the water. Now I get to gaze at a glorious view of the Bay every day on my way to work!

I chose to work for Kaiser Permanente because of the focus on disease prevention and management of the patient as a whole. The organizational structure here empowers doctors to do what’s right for patients. I love working in the Emergency Department because I never know who or what I am going to see next. Kaiser's computer resources for viewing medical records, making referrals to specialists, and ordering prescriptions make it even easier for me to get my patients the care they need.

In the ED, I enjoy the delicate challenge of helping someone who minutes ago was a stranger, but now is relying on me for comfort—both physical and emotional. I also feel lucky to work with a diverse group of doctors and nurses who know how to enjoy the challenges specific to our specialty.

In my life beyond medicine, I’ve put my certifications in SCUBA diving and sailing to good use. Every year or two, I organize sailing and SCUBA trips for my friends in interesting parts of the world. When I’m not sailing or diving, I enjoy hiking or mountain biking around the area—and some days, I enjoy just sitting down and gazing at the Bay!

In addition to my clinical practice, I enjoy research. My areas of interest include technology assessment, evidence-based medicine, and emergency department ultrasound.

Some of my recent publications:

Abboud PA, Heard K, Al-Marshad AA, Lowenstein SR. What determines whether patients are willing to participate in resuscitation studies requiring exception from informed consent? J Med Ethics. 2006 Aug;32(8):468-72.

Abboud PA, Kendall J. Ultrasound-guided vascular access. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2004:22(3)

Abboud PA, Colwell C. Critically reappraising the literature-driven practice of analgesia administration for acute abdominal pain in the emergency room prior to surgical evaluation. Am J Surg. 2004;188(1):102-3

Abboud PA, Heard, K, Lowenstein S. What determines if older patients are willing to participate in cardiac arrest studies? Acad Emerg Med. 2004;11:476.

Abboud PA, Kendall J. Emergency department ultrasound for hemothorax after blunt traumatic injury. J of Emerg Med. 2003;25(2):181-4.

Abboud PA. Management of the violent patient. In: Markovchick VJ, Pons P, Wolfe RE, eds. Emergency Medicine Secrets. 3rd ed. Hanley and Belfus Philadelphia, 2003.

Abboud PA, Cabana MD. Understanding barriers to the adoption of clinical decision rules. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2001;38(6):703-4.

Cabana MD, Rand CS, Powe NR, Wu AW, Wilson MH, Abboud PA, Rubin HR. Why don’t physicians follow clinical practice guidelines? A framework for improvement. JAMA 1999;282(15):1458-65.

Lectures I've given recently include:

Lines and Legs: Vascular Ultrasound in the Emergency Department
TPMG National Emergency Medicine Conference
October, 2005

Emergency Department Ultrasound Screening for Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT)
TPMG Regional ED Conference for Advanced ED Ultrasound Techniques: "Lines and Legs",
June, 2005

Introduction to Ultrasound-Guided Venous Access
Oakland and Richmond Departmental Meeting, August and October, 2004

Introduction to Right Upper Quadrant Ultrasound
Northern California Kaiser Permanente Ultrasound Conference, January, 2004

Travel Medicine Topics: Heat Illness
September, 2002

Issues of the Health Care Safety Net
March, 2002

Update on Acute Ischemic Stroke
March, 2001

Evaluation and Treatment of Headache in the Emergency Department
September, 2000; May, 2002; April, 2003

The Evolution of Chest Pain Observation Units
March, 2000

My Credentials

Medical school	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Internship	Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
Residency	Denver Health and Hospitals, Denver, CO
Board certification	Emergency Medicine, American Board of Emergency Medicine

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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