Articles Tagged With: ED
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New ED Clinicians Pose Safety Concerns
Newly trained clinicians entering clinical practice are the top patient safety concern in healthcare, according to ECRI’s Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2024 Special Report.
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Simple Interventions Prove Powerful in Boosting the Acceptance of Preventive Vaccines in the ED
While emergency staff are busier than ever these days, there is no denying that EDs are particularly well-positioned to recognize and address the healthcare needs of underserved patients, many of whom rarely receive preventive care services such as flu vaccinations. Furthermore, new research has shown that, with not much effort or time on the part of clinicians, EDs can double or even triple the percentage of unvaccinated patients who receive their flu vaccinations — a move that likely prevents more expensive, future healthcare use for some of these patients.
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Some ED Patients Are Suicidal but Present with Unrelated Complaints
Many youths who die by suicide interacted with the healthcare system in the year before death. This raises the question: Should ED providers be screening all youth for suicide risk, regardless of their chief complaint?
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EDs Are Seeking to Minimize Restraint Use
At Hennepin County Medical Center’s ED, quality improvement and quality assurance have been a long-term focus. “There was an interest, particularly in the wake of the local and national events of the summer of 2020, to reexamine our restraint practices and look for opportunities to minimize coercive care in our ED,” reports Aaron E. Robinson, MD, MPH, a faculty physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center and assistant medical director at Hennepin Emergency Medical Services.
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Delayed CT? ED Documentation Can Increase, or Mitigate, Risk
When CT scan delays occur, ED providers sometimes want to document in the chart all the factors beyond their control. “But trying to call out delays in the chart puts up a flag,” warns Bryan Baskin, DO, FACEP, vice chair of safety and quality at the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Emergency Medicine and an assistant professor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Documenting objectively, such as stating, “The CT scanner was down for two hours,” is probably appropriate, he says.
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ED Hospice Referrals Improve Care and Shorten Length of Stay
Many ED patients who could benefit from hospice care are instead admitted to the hospital. This is largely due to a lack of time and resources in EDs to arrange for hospice care.
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Addressing Food Insecurity in the ED
Screening ED patients for food insecurity is not particularly difficult or time-consuming, but intervening to address the problem can be complicated by various factors.
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Unmet Social Needs May Be Reason for ED Visit
Many unmet social needs are the true underlying reason for ED visits, although they often go unrecognized at the time of presentation. Without screening for social needs, ED patients may face physical, psychological, and economic consequences.
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Maximize ED Throughput with a Higher-Level Focus on Bed Traffic Control
Getting patients seen and treated expeditiously is not only a boon in terms of operational efficiency, it also is a big plus for patient safety. Such factors figured prominently when ED leaders at AdventHealth East Orlando decided to create a powerful new nursing position to take charge of what they are calling bed traffic control.
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Study Shows Importance of Effective Medication Reconciliation
A recent study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston illustrates some of the best tactics hospitals can use for improving medication reconciliation. The first lesson from the study is the importance of taking the best possible medication history in the ED before the patient is admitted.