ED Management – March 1, 2004
March 1, 2004
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Drug-seeker lists are dangerous at best, require tight administrative controls
After you have security escort patient Joe Jones out of the ED for causing such a ruckus when he couldnt get any Vicodin, youre thinking youd like to avoid this obvious drug seeker in the future. So maybe you should add his name to the list of frequent flyers or the kook book your staff keep at the nursing station. -
Formalize drug-seeker list; minimize who can access
The first step in formalizing your list of drug seekers or other frequent visitors to your ED is to avoid any disparaging names for them or the list, says Joel Geiderman, MD, FACEP, co-chair of the ED at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. -
Get tough with drug seekers, know methods
Whether you use a list or not, the best way to deal with drug seekers in your ED is to get tough with them, says John Burke, commander of the Warren County (OH) Drug Task Force in Cincinnati, and a former police officer. -
Head injury, stroke require speed to avoid malpractice
This is the last of a three-part series addressing the top five issues that lead to malpractice claims in the emergency department and how you can reduce the risk. In the last two issues, we addressed chest pain, headache, and abdominal pain. This month, ED Management looks at head injury and stroke. -
Case history shows how head injury is easily mistreated
To illustrate how EDs set themselves up for malpractice liability when treating head injuries, Diane M. Sixsmith, MD, MPH, FACEP, chairman of emergency medicine at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens in Flushing, tells the story of a 22-year-old boxer who was knocked out in a training session. -
Satisfaction climbs with smiles, other soft skills
Patient satisfaction improves dramatically if your staff pay more attention to the soft skills of ED care, such as the way you talk to people, while simultaneously improving the physical surroundings. -
Fish tanks and fresh paint help improve mood in ED
Another strategy for improving patient satisfaction in the ED at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock is the calming effect, which aims to create an environment that is less stressful for the patient. -
‘Gridlock page’ helps clear crowded ED
Sometimes, you have to look beyond the walls of your ED for solutions to your overcrowding problems, says Sandy Vecellio, RN, BSN, clinical manager of the ED at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, GA. And when things really get rough, she advises, send out an SOS. -
EMTALA Q&A
Question: Were debating two questions in our hospital regarding when EMTALA applies. First, does the law apply to patients who only are holding in the ED because there are no beds available in the hospital? And does it apply when an air ambulance uses our helipad but does not bring the patient to our ED? -
Emergency physicians join call for liability reform
The liability crisis in many states is an overwhelming threat to our nations emergency care system, says Angela Gardner, MD, an emergency physician and board member of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Irving, TX.