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Like many EDs across the country, the ED at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, OR, sees its share of patients with urgent or primary care needs, and many of these patients frequent the ED 10 or more times a year.
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One new study suggests that crowding in the ED does not necessarily prevent patients who are having ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attacks from receiving needed treatment quickly.
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Faster throughput can clear waiting rooms and boost patient satisfaction, but there are also instances where time-to-treatment can make a critical difference in outcomes.
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The ED at Shands Critical Care Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, sees about 9,000 patients every year who present with chest pain, and until recently, a high percentage of the low- to moderate-risk patients were being admitted to the hospital for further observation.
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Asthma patients have worse outcomes and more hospitalizations if they wait too long before coming to the ED, according to a recent study, which found that one-third of 296 asthma patients seen in two New York City EDs waited more than five days before they decided to go to the ED.
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Just because a child with mental health issues is connected with an outpatient provider doesnt mean he or she wont come to the ED frequently for care, according to research from Johns Hopkins Childrens Center.
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ED nurses at Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, ME, have dramatically shortened door-to-CT and door-to-drug times with a Code Stroke program, reports Sean Hall, RN, one of the hospitals ED nurses.
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If procedural sedation is longer-term, or if your patient has pre-existing chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, consider monitoring end tidal carbon dioxide (CO2), advises Leah M. Gehri, RN, MN, CCRN, director of emergency, trauma, and cardiac services at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, WA.
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An elderly womans bruising and gastrointestinal bleeding turned out to be caused by taking more than triple the dose of her warfarin medication for several days, reports Jeannette Witzel, RN, CEN, an ED nurse at Ukiah (CA) Valley Medical Center.
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Obtaining an EKG in a timely manner is critical, says Brian W. Selig, MHA, BSN, RN, CEN, NE-BC, nurse manager of the ED at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, MO, especially with the recent emphasis on time-critical diagnosis by the Joint Commission and [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.]
