-
A simple behavioral health consultation of 15-30 minutes has helped reduce the number of chronic pain patients who use the ED at Providence Newberg Medical Center in Newberg, OR, as their primary source of medical care.
-
[Editor's note: In this month's issue, we honor our second "gold star" winner. ED Management gives this award to ED teams that go above and beyond the expected to dramatically improve performance through unique and creative approaches. Would you like to nominate your ED or another facility for a Gold Star? If so, contact Steve Lewis, editor, at
[email protected].]
-
The term "over-triage" certainly sounds ominous and wasteful, but as researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine note in their recent paper in The Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection, and Critical Care, it is anything but simple.
-
Although some ED physicians remain opposed to the idea of using tPA, the consideration of the use of thrombolytics such as tPA for stroke patients who are eligible candidates has become the public expectation
-
If you aren't going to give tPA and would like to avoid a lawsuit, you'll want to be very clear in your documentation as to why the patient didn't meet treatment criteria. "And if you do give it, you should be very clear why the patient did meet the criteria," says John Burton, MD, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, VA.
-
Most emergency physicians will be sued during their career. Lawsuits can lead to interpersonal difficulties, loss of job satisfaction, and emotional distress. An understanding of the malpractice process and ways to reduce risk can help emergency physicians deal with this ever present threat.
-
"Why didn't my grandmother see a neurologist immediately in the ED?" is a question that may arise in the event of a malpractice lawsuit involving stroke care.
-
"It's too bad someone didn't give you thrombolytics, because you probably wouldn't be paralyzed now." Whether it's a nurse, doctor, or someone else making that statement to a stroke patient cared for in your ED, you could end up named in a lawsuit.
-
-
This issue is the second in a two-part series covering vaginal bleeding in pregnancy. Part I discussed spontaneous abortion and ectopic pregnancy. Part II will discuss other causes of vaginal bleeding that typically present later in pregnancy.