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Most cases of thrombocytopenia seen in the emergency department (ED) are expected. Patients are known to have hematological disease or are receiving chemotherapy. At times, however, the ED physician is confronted with an unexpected laboratory finding in an assymptomatic patient, or with a patient who is bleeding. The challenge, as usual, is to determine the need for acute treatment and the appropriate disposition.
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Prompt, accurate assessment of the severity of injury and early initiation
of appropriate critical care — including adequate oxygenation,
ventilation and correction of hypotension — is of crucial importance
in preventing deaths in children with severe trauma. This article reviews
the critical aspects of airway assessment and management in the pediatric
trauma patient.
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Whether you are interviewing emergency medicine physicians, mid-level providers, or technicians in your ED, certain questions or remarks can get you into legal trouble. What should you avoid saying during the hiring process?
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Recently, over two dozen ED staff members at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, NJ were suspended for "sneaking a peek" of the medical record of George Clooney, who was being treated for injuries he sustained after a motorcycle accident.
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Not infrequently, parents are reluctant to proceed with medical treatment for their children in the emergency department (ED). When the treatment is clearly indicated, and when parental reluctance progresses to outright refusal, ED physicians are faced with difficult choices.
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How can a misread on an EKG years prior, which led to no immediate negative outcome, be held up at a distant time in the future as malpractice? It doesn't seem right to the practicing ED physician.
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Caring for patients with little privacy other than thin curtains in a crowded emergency department seems to fly in the face of the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). But what are the actual liability risks of this practice?