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Delay in treatment remains the most common cause of sentinel events in EDs, accounting for more than half of all sentinel events originating in EDs since the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations began tracking the events in 1995.
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It was about 2 a.m., Sept. 16, when Hurricane Ivan roared into Pensacola, FL, with 130-mile-per-hour winds, battering the boarded-up windows of Sacred Heart Hospital, knocking out the electricity and forcing the hospital to operate on emergency generators. Many staff had arrived at the hospital before the storm hit, anticipating problems with transportation afterward, and they all sprang into action to make sure the patients and more than 2,000 family members of patients and staff being sheltered at the hospital were safe.
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Public reporting of quality measures is likely to increase in the near future, and hospitals should get ready, asserts Carolyn Scott, director of collaborative services and CEO work groups for clinical excellence with VHA Inc., an Irving, TX-based health care cooperative.
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Redesigning the care management model and creating a resource center to free the clinical staff from clerical work has resulted in decreases in length of stay and helped drop denials for clinical reasons to zero at St. Vincents Medical Center in Jacksonville, FL.
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More education for physicians and research into pain management strategies appropriate to the emergency setting are needed to ensure appropriate care in the emergency department (ED), new research indicates. Two upcoming studies published in the April issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine reveal that ED physicians prescribing practices vary widely even when the clinical scenarios are the same.
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A recent study by a University of Michigan cardiologist on behalf of a Michigan-wide angioplasty research group produced a sobering statistic: Of 1,551 heart attack patients who had emergency angioplasty at hospitals in Michigan, women waited on average more than 118 minutes before treatment began, compared with 105 minutes for men.
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The ED patient, lying in bed in her own private room, picks up the all-in-one telephone handset and remote control beside her and calls her husband to tell him shes been in a car accident. She clicks on the 12-inch TV monitor, watches for a while, and then decides to switch over to the radio for some calming music.
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Encouraging patients not to come to your ED? Building a new ED with no waiting room? These are among the creative, and perhaps controversial, strategies adopted by two ED managers determined to address surge capacity in new and more effective ways.