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When patients present to the ED with dizziness, oftentimes the provider will order a computed tomography (CT) scan to rule out serious medical problems, such as intracranial bleeding or stroke. However, a new study suggests that such scans may not be worth the expense in the vast majority of cases.
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Already burdened with increased demand for medical services, EDs across the country are also seeing a spike in the number of patients who present with behavioral health issues.
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A new study suggests that there are serious problems with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) new imaging efficiency measure for ED use of computed tomography (CT) for headaches.
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"Everyone knows that a patient with a heart rate higher than 90 should be admitted to the hospital."
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At what point after a lawsuit alleging ED malpractice is filed will a sued EP learn what the opposing experts say about the case? This depends on the legal strategy being used by the plaintiff's attorneys and state laws, says Jonnathan Busko, MD, an EP at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and medical director of Maine EMS Region IV.
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Ken Zafren, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FAWM, EMS medical director for the state of Alaska and clinical associate professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Stanford (CA) University Medical Center, says that while much attention has been paid to the problem of plaintiff experts making false statements about ED care, he's also experienced defense experts making false statements.
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In the emergency department (ED), a central component of a physician's daily care and job performance is to administer or prescribe drugs.
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Delays for treatment for heart attack patients will continue to be a high-risk area for EDs legally, predicts Robert L. Norton, MD, a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
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A 12-year-old boy with an unremarkable familial and medical history presents with global aphasia and right hemiplegia 14 days after a streptococcal pharyngeal infection. A neurological examination performed three hours after symptom onset reveals a conjugate gaze deviation to the left, right hemiplegia, hemihypesthesia, and extensor plantar sign. The NIHSS score is 22. Laboratory examinations are normal. A cerebral CT shows a hyperdense left MCA and early signs of infarction in that area.
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Did an emergency physician write an order for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, but one cannot be obtained because the machine is being serviced? If so, the chart should reflect that the ordering physician was advised of the delay.
