As reform helps more Americans gain access to health coverage, experts predict that the nation's EDs will be bulging at the seams.
While emergency department (ED) volume is always going to be somewhat unpredictable, ED operations at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, LA, used to hum along so optimally that there was no reason to rethink the way things were done.
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.
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.
This March, the industry once again celebrated National Patient Safety Awareness Week an apropos title as quality professionals have certainly become increasingly aware of the importance of patient safety in recent years. But how well have we done?
