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What Happens if Police Bring a Child to the ED?
Try gathering healthcare providers, quality officers, the legal department, security, and local law enforcement monthly to discuss disagreements about minors in custody. These conversations can inform efforts to revise policies, with the goal of preventing future disputes.
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EDs Need Clarity on Policies for Law Enforcement Interactions
Any hospital policy related to patients who are in custody or incarcerated should be developed in conjunction with the relevant law enforcement agencies. Leaders should establish that patients in custody with capacity are their own medical decision-makers. The policy also should include how to identify an appropriate surrogate decision-maker, if necessary.
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ACEP, ENA Push Congress to Act on Workplace Violence, Expand Mental Health Resources
The threat of violence against healthcare workers compromises the ability of emergency clinicians to deliver the highest-quality care. Meanwhile, there is a lack of resources to provide patients struggling with mental health concerns with the proper treatment or to place them in a setting where the right care can be provided.
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Intervention for Critically Ill Patients Lowered In-Hospital Mortality Rates
Researchers believe their work could be a starting place for emergency clinicians to think about novel care delivery models for seriously ill patients.
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Delays in Acute Stroke Treatment Contribute to Malpractice Claims
Recent research findings underscore the importance of always considering stroke in the differential diagnosis of altered mental status, even when the patient does not arrive by EMS.
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Emergency Providers Intervene to Prevent Suicide Attempts, Ideation
Researchers use quality improvement concepts to help clinicians identify high-risk patients.
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Preparing for Fresh Concerns of Poliovirus and Acute Flaccid Myelitis
What will be the next health crisis? Could it be wild-type poliovirus, vaccine-derived poliovirus, or the similar condition of acute flaccid myelitis? Are you prepared to recognize and anticipate the complications? The authors prepare clinicians for the acute management of each of these conditions.
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Unified Defense Not Always Possible in Malpractice Claim
Defense counsel must be aware of competing interests in any case. Attorneys should engage in frank discussions with the hospital and any employed staff who are named defendants. There must be a cohesive strategy. Individual staff members named in lawsuits should not be speculating on whether a staffing shortage existed, or whether a staffing shortage caused or contributed to a patient’s alleged injury.
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Emergency Physician’s Testimony Could Legally Expose Hospital
Airing grievances against the department, hospital, or health system will not serve the defendant in the long term. If a patient experienced a delayed diagnosis because of long waits, some providers might editorialize in the chart about why the delays happened or describe their personal efforts to bring the boarding crisis to the attention of leaders. A “just the facts” approach is better.
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Emergency Medicine Physician Groups Pledge to Tackle Workforce Challenges
Many experts note the burdens placed on frontline providers during the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a toll, and the apparent fall-off in demand for emergency medicine residency positions is not necessarily surprising. Nonetheless, there is concern suggesting solutions are needed to address multiple workforce challenges.