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Immediately after a 70-year-old man presented with fever, tachycardia, low blood pressure and abdominal pain, ED nurses gave acetaminophen, started two large-bore intravenous (IV) lines of normal saline infusing wide open, obtained all blood work including cultures and lactate, obtained a portable chest X-ray and electrocardiogram, and administered antibiotics with lab results pending.
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If a seizure patient comes to your ED, one of the first questions you need answered is "What diagnostic testing is needed?"
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Using ultrasound at the patient's bedside is a noninvasive way to diagnose intravascular volume depletion in children with gastroenteritis, says a new study.
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The number of patients between the ages of 65 and 74 who visit the nation's EDs annually is likely to double from 6.4 million in 2003 to 11.7 million by 2013, according to a new study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.1 This growth, the authors warn, could lead to catastrophic overcrowding.
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When you're planning a geriatric ED or looking to transform part of your department into a geriatric wing, there are several design and staffing considerations the ED manager must take into account, advises Robert Fitzgerald, MD, FACEP, an attending physician in the ED at Boswell Hospital in Sun City, AZ.
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The ED at Martha's Vineyard Hospital in Oak Bluffs, MA, has consistently achieved extraordinarily high customer satisfaction ratings while operating in a unique environment.
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Caring for patients with little privacy other than thin curtains in a crowded emergency department seems to fly in the face of the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). But what are the actual liability risks of this practice?
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Whether you are interviewing emergency medicine physicians, midlevel providers, or technicians in your ED, certain questions or remarks can get you into legal trouble. What should you avoid saying during the hiring process?
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After receiving input from several medical organizations and other interested parties during a Sept. 25, 2007, summit on medication reconciliation, The Joint Commission is digesting that feedback and crafting a response.
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