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If planning isnt already under way, the time is now for your hospital to get ready for implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Acts (HIPAA) security rule, which takes effect April 21, 2005.
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A new career ladder for emergency department registrars at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, has helped reduce staff turnover and is providing increased motivation for employees to perform at higher levels in cash collections, among several other categories.
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This is the second in a two-part series on high-alert medications in the ED. This month, we address how to avoid dosage errors involving heparin. Last month, we gave practice changes to avoid errors with high-alert drugs.
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How many patients would you estimate come to your ED for alcohol-related diseases and injuries? According to a new report, the number may be much higher than you think. There are three times as many alcohol-related ED visits than previous estimates, with an estimated 68.6 million ED visits attributed to alcohol each year, says a study based on the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys data from 1992-2000.
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An infant with pneumonia, a girl with an infected tattoo, and a child with an insect bite. Would you suspect community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in all these patients? In fact, these are all recent examples of actual MRSA cases seen at Brandon (FL) Regional Hospitals ED.
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Many of the tourniquets that come in prepackaged intravenous (IV) start kits are not adequate for difficult-start patients, says Linell Jones, RN, BSN, CEN, ED nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, WA.
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Are dirty meal trays a common sight in your ED? By switching to a disposable tray system, the ED at Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, CA, was able to save $300 a month, reports Stephanie J. Baker, RN, BSN, CEN, MBA/HCM, director of emergency services.
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If an unconscious man was rushed to your ED after a terrorist attack with possible exposure to biological or chemical agents, would you know exactly how to decontaminate and treat this patient? What if your patient was a 3-year-old?
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If you could find a way to ensure that medications were absorbed quicker with less pain and no risk of a needlestick injury, would you do this for your patients? Intranasal drug delivery offers all of these benefits, but the vast majority of EDs dont use it, according to Timothy Wolfe, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine at University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City.
