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Imagine that a patient with a chronic disease and taking multiple medications has an acute deterioration at home. The patient calls 911, and an ambulance arrives. The emergency technicians arent able to obtain all of the patients medication information from family members, and the patient is unable to communicate.
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This warning jumps off the page from the first-ever National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine, just released by the Dallas-based American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The report covered all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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If youre in the market for a CPOE, its important to play with a number of systems before making your choice to determine which is most user friendly and which is the best fit for your ED, advises Brian F. Keaton, MD, FACEP, attending physician/emergency medicine informatics director at Summa Health System, Akron, OH, and president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).
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A study conducted by investigators from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs Healthcare System showed that more intense implementation strategies for care of pneumonia patients than typically found in most EDs safely increased the proportion of low-risk patients who were successfully treated as outpatients.
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A new, separate area for psych patients within the ED has helped Forsyth Medical Center in Greensboro, NC, cut its average throughput time by 9% from 201 minutes to 189 minutes for all patients, according to departments manager.
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While developing and maintaining effective infection control procedures involves a large range of issues in the ED, many of them fall within two major areas: quality control and equipment/facilities.
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The next generation in patient identification and electronic medical information is now unfolding in a growing group of EDs across the country. The ED managers who are using it are convinced it will prove invaluable in the not-too-distant future.
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If the current federal budget package is approved by the House of Representatives without significant changes, it could lead to decreased revenue for EDs, says Molly Collins Offner, MHSA, senior associate director of public policy in the Washington, DC, office of the American Hospital Association.
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Beginning this year, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization has added an emergency management committee meeting and a disaster tracer.
