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The new ED at Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights, IL, is a bit untraditional: It has no waiting room.
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The ED at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, IA, has played a central role in the dramatic improvement in hospitalwide compliance with The Joint Commission core measures for community acquired pneumonia (CAP).
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The increased use of computed tomography (CT) scans, while revolutionizing diagnostic radiology, also has brought with it a greater risk of radiation and potential cancer cases, according to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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The newly announced national patient safety goals, which are expected to receive special emphasis at accreditation surveys, require EDs and other departments of the hospital to accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care.
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As of Jan. 1, hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations must meet a new standard that has a higher requirement for care given to admitted patients in the ED, and CEOs will depend on ED managers to lead the effort in complying with this standard.
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The annual impact of influenza on the United States is staggering: 10% to 20% of the population will get the flu. Some 36,000 people will die, and 114,000 will be hospitalized.
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If youre having difficulty staffing your call panel, there are two options: You can institute a new approach internally, or contract with a company such as Emergency and Acute Care Medical Corp. (EA) in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, a management services organization with an independently contracted medical group providing call panel and stipend solutions and programs.
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A large number of emergency medicine observers agree that the inability to fully staff ED call panels has reached a critical point.
Why has the problem become so serious?
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There was a long history of frustration over lab specimen turnaround time but not anymore. Thanks to a successful Six Sigma initiative, turnaround time for the EDs criteria draws (draws based on specific patient criteria that indicate lab work will be needed) has dropped from about 46 minutes to 16 minutes.
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A series of 27 lawsuits aimed at organizations controlling about 250 nonprofit hospitals in 15 states and the Chicago-based American Hospital Association (AHA) have shone the spotlight on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and its requirements concerning the treatment and admission of uninsured and underinsured patients.
