Articles Tagged With:
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Report from the 2023 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions
At the 2023 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions, experts presented key updates, advances, and best practices for patient care. A selection of presentations relevant to the internal medicine and primary care community is presented here.
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Biden, Congress Transition to New Era of Pandemic Prevention
The White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy will take over the duties of the current COVID-19 and Mpox teams in August.
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Multidisciplinary Initiative Leads to More Referrals, Donors, and Transplanted Organs
Staff training and more visible public awareness helped a Georgia hospital make tremendous improvements.
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Vital Signs Are Unreported During Most EMS Handoffs
EMS holds a wealth of information about a very critical time in the patient’s treatment and evaluation for that episode. Physicians, EMS agencies, and hospital leaders should collaborate to figure out what gaps exist and develop specific tools to close those gaps.
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EHR Flaws Contribute to Diagnostic Errors
Many, if not most, emergency care providers would agree there are some significant downsides to electronic health records, including usability, interoperability, and malfunctions, to name a few. But are these issues merely annoying, or do they actually contribute to diagnostic errors?
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Did Emergency Provider Discuss Sensitive Topics with Adolescent?
Protecting confidentiality is the primary consideration for emergency care providers discussing sensitive topics with adolescent patients, including documentation in the medical record, discharge papers, lab results, and billing. Confidential conversations can be protected in the medical record several ways, including using confidential notes that are not visible to all.
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Prying Eyes Put EDs at High Risk for HIPAA Violations
Ensure policies are in place to protect the privacy of patients’ identifiable health information, train staff on those policies, implement measures to maximize compliance with the policies, and provide supplemental training if there are any incidents of non-compliance by an individual or group.
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Make Headway Against Workplace Violence with Data Tracking, Interdisciplinary Initiatives
Two health systems have started several initiatives that attack the problem from different angles. Data show these systems are making a sizable dent in incidents of violence in their EDs and other vulnerable points. These leaders are sharing their roadmaps and best practices so others can benefit.
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Prioritize Bed Placement for Older Patients to Shorten Stays, Prevent Delirium
A team of emergency physicians gathered data showing that among older patients, there is an association between time spent in the ED and the development of delirium. Researchers found that for every hour spent in the ED, the risk of developing delirium increased by roughly 2%.
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To Alleviate Boarding, Consider Creating Discharge Lounge
Several months into the new process, leaders at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital report they have shortened the average discharge process from four hours to one hour, they have halved the ED’s leave-without-being-seen rate, and patient satisfaction scores have begun to rise in both the ED and inpatient settings.