Emergency
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Legal Landmines for Patients Referred to ED for Psychiatric Evaluation
These risks relate to information-sharing for care coordination and continuity of care.
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Out of Options: When Parents Abandon Pediatric Psychiatric Patients at Hospital
Parents often are faced with an impossible choice. They must decide whether to bring home a child who poses a threat to self and others, or risk a child abandonment charge. The criteria for acute psychiatric hospitalization are so high that children might be discharged only to be rehospitalized within weeks or days — and retraumatized in the process.
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Does Surviving an ECMO Stay Put Patients at Greater Risk for Mental Health Problems?
Survivors of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) demonstrated a modest increase in risk of new mental health diagnoses after discharge vs. ICU survivors who do not undergo ECMO.
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‘Medical Clearance’ of Psychiatric Patient Can be Legally Risky
What does "medical clearance" really mean? Does it indicate a patient has no acute issues, or that all the patient’s chronic issues are stable? Or is it both? The answer depends on who you ask.
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Novel Bedside Procedure Improves Tracheostomy Outcomes
Nurse-driven initiative led to zero incidents of tracheostomy medical device-related pressure injuries for three years.
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Hyponatremia: Evaluation and Management in the Emergency Department
Hyponatremia is one of the most common electrolyte derangements among adults presenting to the emergency department and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A variety of factors and disease processes can contribute to the development of hyponatremia, varying in both chronicity and in subsequent symptomatology. Understanding the varied etiologies of hyponatremia is essential for the emergency physician to appropriately manage this electrolyte disorder, ensuring appropriate treatment and disposition in a common but potentially dangerous disease process.
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Confusion Abounds Over Emergency Codes
In a survey, healthcare employees struggled to recall which emergency corresponded to which code.
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Emergency Care of the Medically Complex Pediatric Patient
Children with special healthcare needs require an individualized approach based on their unique situations. Acute care providers must be familiar with the special devices, potential complications, and evaluations necessary for children with these devices. Early involvement of pediatric specialists may be necessary to provide optimal care to these children. The authors discuss many aspects of the care of children with special healthcare needs to enhance and optimize outcomes.
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Harsh Criticism for New Report on ED Diagnostic Errors
New research that might have injected renewed vigor into improving diagnostic performance in the ED has instead prompted much uproar. In the emergency medicine community, that discussion has been overshadowed by biting criticism about the data and the methodologies investigators used to reach their conclusions — and what some are calling unfair blame placed at the foot of emergency providers.
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Patients with Nonspecific, Atypical Symptoms Could Be Misdiagnosed
An emergency medicine professor explains how providers can reduce risks for ED patients who present with unusual symptoms.