(Editor's Note: This is a two-part series on keeping patients safe during lengthy waits in the ED. This month, we give practices to avoid missing a patient's deterioration in waiting areas, how to enlist the help of others in visualizing patients, and what to tell family members to watch for. Next month, we'll report on how to avoid blocked views of patients and which patients are at particularly high risk for sudden deterioration.)
Remember the days before sensitive serum pregnancy tests and 24-hour ultrasound availability? Remember performing a culdocentesis to determine if the patient was stable for discharge? I do, and I don't miss them.
The bad news: Most ED experts believe that health care reform will only exacerbate the steady growth of volume in the nation's EDs.
Many ED nurses are apparently not following guidelines for pulmonary function testing and asthma medications, according to a recent study.
A group of researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, led by Denise M. Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, associate professor and director of graduate studies, has concluded that it is preferable to disclose medical mistakes affecting multiple patients even if those patients were not harmed.