Does the electrocardiograph in your emergency department include a computer-generated interpretation on every electrocardiogram printed? Like me, do you often find them less than helpful? Occasionally troubling?
Asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness; it is estimated that it currently affects 6 million children in the United States.
If it ever happens to you, it's a moment you'll never forgetbeing served with papers from a patient's attorney. What do you do first?
Your own personal notes about a patient's care. Incident reports if a patient is harmed. Information given verbally or in writing to the hospital's risk managers. Conversations or e-mails with other ED physicians about the patient's care. E-mails or conversation with physicians who don't work in your ED. Personal correspondence with non-involved parties.
Four blood cultures come back positive, but when an ED nurse contacts the woman's husband, he says she's doing much better. Neither the ED nurse nor the physician asks the patient to return to the ED, and she returns two days later with altered mental status and partially treated meningitis. An adverse outcome results. Could your ED be sued?
