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In a memo of clarification that should have ED managers breathing a sigh of relief, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has informed state survey agency directors that there is no prohibition under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) against ED physicians using telecommunications in consultation with specialists who are not present in their hospital or critical access hospital (CAH).
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The investigations over "homeless dumping" spread to the California legislative arena in 2006 with a bill that prohibits hospitals from transporting a homeless patient across county lines in the absence of consent from a receiving shelter.
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Nurses and physicians are at high risk for communication lapses during change of shift, says Francis L. Counselman, MD, chairman and program director for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA.
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A growing number of EDs are allowing family members to be present during resuscitation, as a result of multiple research articles that consistently report that families want to be present and generally have a positive experience.
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When emotional family members are in the ED, what if they hear or see something that they misinterpret and later tearfully tell a jury that the staff were unprofessional or uncaring?
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Two studies published online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine describe new methods of achieving the door-to-balloon time of 90 minutes recommended by the American Heart Association.
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What are the critical factors to a successful medication reconciliation process? "For us, the keys have been ease of use of forms, staff education about the forms, and follow-up to make sure that things are getting done properly," says Ann Morrill, RN, a staff nurse in the ED at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston.
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The tragic May 9 death of Edith Isabel Rodriguez in the ED waiting room at Martin Luther King Jr. Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles, grabbed the nation's attention when it was learned that two calls were made by her family to 911 while she was deteriorating in the ED waiting room.
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Keeping up with changes in standards from The Joint Commission and the attendant interpretations can be a challenge for the most conscientious of ED managers especially when they come as quickly as they have in the area of medication management.
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More often than not, ED managers and their staffs toil in relative anonymity as they go about their daily work. However, once the recent findings of a survey by The Joint Commission at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) were made public, that was no longer possible.
