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Increasing numbers of EDs are implementing electronic medical records (EMRs), including computerized physician order entry (CPOE), with the goal of improving patient safety. However, not much is known about the liability risks of these new tools.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed changes to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) regulations that would allow "community call" programs to be established by groups of hospitals in self-designated referral areas to help address the shortage of ED on-call specialists.
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Crowding is increasingly becoming a factor in litigation involving emergency department care, putting nurses and physicians at increased risk for being named in a lawsuit.
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Controversy continues to swirl around the appropriateness of emergency physicians writing holding orders (or bridge orders, as they are sometimes called) for admitted patients.
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While there certainly are times when doctors just shirk their duties, it is important to remember that they may have justification for not wanting to take ED calls.
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Everyone can use a little TLC, and at Baptist Health, a multifacility health system based in Jacksonville, FL, staff get it from a program called "Transferring and Lifting with Care" or TLC.
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Police in Atlanta report they have arrested a man posing as an emergency physician in a hospital, and authorities in Jacksonville, FL, say they still are hunting for a man seen impersonating a doctor in a children's hospital.
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A man presented to the hospital complaining of a painful headache. A CT scan was ordered, but the CT scanner was not working properly. After an hour and a half of trying to repair the machine, staff made arrangements to use a backup CT scanner at an imaging center across the street, but that machine also was inoperable.
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It's a constant worry for risk managers: Do you have enough physicians taking emergency department (ED) call duty? Will those on call actually respond when summoned? Are they taking ED calls from other hospitals at the same time?
