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Is a cardiac-arrest patient failing to wake up and follow commands? "Therapeutic hypothermia is one of the few therapies we can offer," says Marion Leary, BSN, RN, assistant director of clinical research at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Resuscitation Science in Philadelphia.
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If ED nurses believe a patient poses a risk of harm to themselves or others, a patient safety checklist is used for "closed-loop" communication with security, says Alexandra Penzias, RN, MEd, MSN, CEN, clinical nurse educator in the department of emergency medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA. "This ensures that all members of the ED team are aware of the patient's status and plan of care," she explains.
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If your ED patient sustained a few rib fractures, would you expect this to lead to rapid respiratory decompensation, pneumonia, and death? Minor injuries can have profound effects in the elderly, warns Avery Nathens, MD, division head of trauma and general surgery at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the controversial 6th Circuit decision in the case of Moses v. Providence Hospital, where the federal appeals court rejected Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) rule that EMTALA ends once a hospital admits a patient in good faith for further stabilizing care.
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If you have a conflict with a colleague, do you document only facts and objective observations or accusatory statements such as, "Despite my intervention, the doctor refused to acknowledge what I am telling him?"
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After the emergency physician's (EP) preliminary reading of a seizure patient's X-ray was negative, the patient was discharged, but the following day, the radiologist's report showed compression of the spine.
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If an emergency physician (EP) continues to treat a patient after a social relationship has developed, he or she faces significant legal risks, according to Jennifer Lawter, RN, JD, vice president of risk management at EPMG in Ann Arbor, MI.
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Developing personal relationships with ED patients involves ethical, as well as possible legal implications, says William Sullivan, DO, JD, FACEP, director of emergency services at St. Margaret's Hospital in Spring Valley, IL, and a Frankfort, IL-based practicing attorney. "Some ethicists have questioned whether it is wise to merge one's social and professional lives," he adds.
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With all the talk about the shortage of primary care physicians, one would think there is an abundance of surgical specialty care providers ready and willing to answer the call.
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Hip fractures are among the most debilitating and expensive diagnoses to treat, but you can significantly improve outcomes and lower costs if you get hip-fracture patients into surgery quickly, explains Anthony Balsamo, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and head of the Geriatric Fracture Care Program (GFCP) at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
