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Zoonotic transmission resulting from exposure to infected cats was responsible for an epidemic of 178 human cases of sporotrichosis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 1998 to 2001. Cats infected with sporotrichosis pose a significant risk of disease transmission to humans because of their extensive skin lesions and high burden of organisms.
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Practically everyone remembers the highly touted Food Guide Pyramid, unveiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2002. In just a few short years, however, it seems to have become outdated.
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A new study by Philadelphia-based CIGNA confirms what a number of occ-health professionals have been asserting: the integration of disability and health care programs can help return disabled employees to work more quickly, or even prevent absences, and can also lower total benefit costs.
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New legislation aimed at protecting workers against genetic discrimination has passed the Senate unanimously but is currently bogged down in the House of Representatives, according to an expert in workers rights.
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In addition to increased numbers of mentally ill patients, emergency departments (EDs) are seeing more uninsured patients than in the past, and the numbers could grow, warns Brian Hancock, MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Irving, TX. Your budget planning should factor in more uninsured patients, not just the same level you have coped with for years.
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An analysis tool commonly used for investigating adverse events and other process errors in health care can prove useful in the ED as well, say experts who have seen it used to address long wait times and similar problems. The technique is called root-cause analysis (RCA), and chances are youve heard the term tossed around, but its not as likely that youve actually employed it in the ED.
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A root-cause analysis (RCA) is a complex tool that requires professional training, but an ED manager can utilize it with the help of an expert, says Kenneth A. Hirsch, MD, PhD, a practicing psychiatrist and director of Medical Risk Management Associates, a consulting firm in Honolulu.
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In addition to increased numbers of mentally ill patients, EDs are seeing more uninsured patients than in the past, and the numbers could grow, warns Brian Hancock, MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Irving, TX. Your budget planning should factor in more uninsured patients, not just the same level you have coped with for years.
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Question: How do we avoid patient hoarding, in which nurses or physicians intentionally delay moving a patient out to delay the next patient and give themselves a breather? Weve already warned that hoarding wont be tolerated, but it still happens and thwarts our efforts to improve patient flow through and decrease waiting time.
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Question: I know EMTALA signs are to be placed in registration areas, EDs, and public entrances. Right now we have signs in each of our four ED rooms, in the front hospital entrance, and the registration area. But I need to know if I should hang a sign in our back entrance leading to the ED. This entrance is not considered a public entrance, so do I need to put a sign there?
