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One of the new National Patient Safety Goals recently published by The Joint Commission addresses a situation emergency medicine experts say is becoming increasingly common: Patients on anticoagulation medication. Goal 3E for 2008 states: "Reduce the likelihood of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulation therapy."
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The ED at Lutheran Medical Center (LMC) in Brooklyn, NY, has reduced its average door-to-doc time from more than two hours to 30 minutes in just 18 months, with the nearly simultaneous implementation of six major initiatives.
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New staff physicians, a reduced workload, and a team approach to department endeavors have not only improved morale in the ED at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, NY, but they also boosted patient satisfaction scores from between the 70th and 80th percentiles into the 90s.
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For years now, the annual changes proposed in the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rules by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have been changes of degree, not kind.
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When a bridge that links Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, collapsed early in the evening on Aug. 1, it touched off a series of events and tragedies that unfolded rapidly amid much confusion and conflicting media reports.
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While ED the staff at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis responded quickly and efficiently following the collapse of an interstate bridge, John L. Hick, MD, medical director for emergency preparedness, already has set in motion actions to remedy the few shortcomings that were noted.
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One of the keys to getting staff onboard with the new Physician in Triage (PIT) program in the ED at Parma (OH) Community General Hospital was creating a sense of urgency, says Dawn Beljin, RN, director of emergency services.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making $25 million for hospitals and other health care facilities via a competitive emergency care grant program that will focus on hospital surge capacity, emergency care system capability, and community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies.
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Two Vermont EDs have initiated a health information technology project that will enable their physicians and nurses to obtain accurate medication lists for patients within seconds even if the patient has never visited the hospital before.
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While the media may be treating the recent death of Elizabeth Rodriguez in an ED waiting room in Los Angeles as an isolated incident, a new survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) would indicate that is far from the case.
