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An adult patient with fever and cough: This is something you probably see at least once a day and perhaps dozens of times a day in your emergency department (ED) during the flu season. But did you know about new recommendations that call for changes concerning when patients receive antibiotics, which diagnostic tests they are given, and whether they are discharged or admitted?
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A dedicated billing analyst for your emergency department (ED) can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars that goes straight to the bottom line instead of just flying out the window, say two managers who have added about $300,000 a year.
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ED volume increasing, most hospitals report.
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It was easy for ED nurses to recognize signs of septic shock in a 23-year-old woman who had just given birth at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood, WA: She could barely speak, was hypotensive, hypothermic, and had a grayish coloring.
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She may be an ideal candidate for thrombolytic therapy: A woman tells triage nurses that she first noticed symptoms exactly two hours ago. But by the time the patient is appropriately assessed, the window of time for eligibility to be treated with thrombolytics has passed. Has this occurred in your ED recently? Currently, only 2-5% of all eligible patients receive the thrombolytic drug t-PA, which was approved in 1996 for treatment of ischemic stroke within three hours of symptom onset.
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If asked, How do you ensure that patients are not mistakenly identified before medications are given? during an accreditation survey, would every nurse in your ED be able to answer the question?
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One way to make sure discharge planners, physicians, and other referral sources continue to send you new patients is to make sure your patients and their family members are happy with your services.
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In response to the unacceptably low influenza immunization rates among health care workers, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) issued specific recommendations to health care facilities to develop and implement comprehensive influenza vaccination programs for employees.
