Emergency Publication
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Legal Exposure if Patient Is Not Reassessed in ED Waiting Room
An attorney offers some recommendations for emergency physicians concerned about liability when patients are not reassessed in waiting rooms.
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Whole-Hospital Approach Accelerates Patient Flow in ED, Slashes Wait Times and Walk-Outs
To prevent people from leaving an ED without seeing a provider, researchers identified bottlenecks, secured support from leadership, and engaged with all units that conduct business with the department to address throughput problems. Coordination and accountability helped solve flow issues at the source.
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Virtual Nurses Alleviate Burdens on Frontline Staff, Critical Workforce Shortages
Across the United States, health systems are experimenting with programs that enable nurses, working remotely, to handle tasks that usually are handled by in-person, bedside nurses. These virtual nurses are managing everything from purposeful rounding to handling administrative tasks that often keep bedside nurses from spending more time on patient care.
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Patients with Limited English Proficiency Pose Risks
It is critical for administrators to provide professional interpreter services for all languages commonly spoken among patient populations that present to emergency departments most often.
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The Current State of RSV
Respiratory syncytial virus is a common virus encountered in the ED, with myriad presentations and complications that clinicians must be able to identify and manage. The authors provide state-of-the-art diagnostic and management strategies for the acute care clinician.
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When ED Is Packed, Keep Patients Moving with Triage Hallway, Dedicated Staff
Since Pull to Infinity was implemented in June 2022, the average time it takes to see a provider in the ED has dropped from 22 minutes to seven minutes. This, despite continually expanding volumes. The average patient arrival-to-discharge time has improved to 175 minutes, down seven minutes. Also, the leave-without-being-seen rate declined from 3.5% last year to 1.6% in the first four months of 2023.
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Patient Progression Hub Optimizes Throughput, Centralizes Decision-Making
Children’s Mercy in Kansas City aims to leverage an impressive array of artificial intelligence-driven tools, predictive analytics, and other feats of engineering to hone patient flow to new heights of efficiency.
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Tackling Bias in Healthcare Requires Awareness, Data-Gathering, and High-Level Commitment
Healthcare systems have collectively turned their attention to promoting equity and rooting out bias. The results of a recently published study of how emergency nurses experience and react to bias suggests much work remains. Further, the authors maintained significant change is likely to require a firm commitment from the upper ranks of institutions to ensure equity is not just a slogan.
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Some ED Malpractice Lawsuits Hinge on Security Camera Footage
Security footage of ED waiting rooms is relevant to claims alleging delayed triage, failure to re-assess the patient during a long wait, or failure to intervene if a patient deteriorated in the waiting room. However, many claims involve allegations of delayed treatment or diagnosis. What happened in the waiting room, before the patient was brought back for evaluation, could have contributed to a poor outcome.
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Shorten Lengths of Stay, Reduce Revisit Rates for Pediatric Patients Who Present with Behavioral Health Needs
EDs might rely on telemedicine from a third-party company, a sister hospital with pediatricians on staff, consult services from local pediatricians, or ensure at least one provider in the department is trained in pediatric care.