Emergency Medicine - Adult and Pediatric
RSSArticles
-
Outcome of Discharged Patients a ‘Concerning Blind Spot’
Did a terrible outcome occur minutes, hours, or days after an ED visit? The timing complicates the defense of a subsequent malpractice claim for multiple reasons.
-
Plaintiffs Prevailing in Incidental Findings Claims
Experts recommend EDs should address how to prevent an important incidental finding from falling through the cracks in the communications between the ED and radiology. One approach is to ensure that all imaging reports, consultations, and other pertinent information are emailed to the patient’s primary care physician. This could serve as an opportunity to catch something that might otherwise be missed, thereby reducing the risk of harm to the patient and the risk of litigation.
-
Determining the Reliability of a Triage Tool in Med/Mal Litigation
Many ED malpractice claims allege a patient was mistriaged. But what if the plaintiff attorney takes things a step further and claims that the tool used to triage patients was unreliable?
-
Ocular Trauma
This review will help the practitioner to be more comfortable evaluating and treating a patient with a traumatic eye complaint and understanding when to involve ophthalmology and with what urgency.
-
Adverse Reactions to Cannabis and Cannabinoids
Understanding the potential reactions that can occur from cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids can help emergency physicians recognize these effects in patients who may present to the emergency department.
-
Syncope
Relying on the most current literature, this article discusses the causes of syncope and syncope mimics, provides the best practice evaluation strategies, and will refamiliarize emergency physicians with current state-of-the-art practices regarding syncope risk stratification guidelines.
-
What Is Really BRUEing?
In May 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published clinical practice guidelines titled Brief Resolved Unexplained Events (Formerly Apparent Life-Threatening Events) and Evaluation of Lower-Risk Infants, suggesting a new terminology, an evaluation based on the risk of recurrent events or serious underlying causes, and key action statements (management recommendations) for patients meeting the brief resolved unexplained events (BRUE) definition for lower-risk patients. The authors review and discuss the definitions and key management strategies recommended in these new guidelines.
-
Can Plaintiff Prove Documented ED Evaluation Never Happened?
Inadvertent checking of items is one of the legal risks of electronic medical records. One common scenario: Someone checks a box stating that the patient’s current medications were reviewed. It turns out the patient was taking a medication that was contraindicated to something that was administered in the ED. This can lead to a "he said/she said" situation.
-
Report: Liability Fears of Discharging Low-risk Pulmonary Embolism Patients Unfounded
Various investigators have spent the last several years trying to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of outpatient care in a community setting.
-
Anaphylaxis-related Lawsuits Allege Exposures to Known Triggers
To reduce the likelihood of anaphylaxis-related litigation, researchers recommend additional anaphylaxis education, provision of epinephrine auto injectors or other alternatives to reduce dosing errors, and stronger safeguards to prevent administration of known allergens.