Browse Emergency Medicine Topics Articles by Topic

Virtual Nurses Alleviate Burdens on Frontline Staff, Critical Workforce Shortages

Across the United States, health systems are experimenting with programs that enable nurses, working remotely, to handle tasks that usually are handled by in-person, bedside nurses. These virtual nurses are managing everything from purposeful rounding to handling administrative tasks that often keep bedside nurses from spending more time on patient care.

Patients with Limited English Proficiency Pose Risks

It is critical for administrators to provide professional interpreter services for all languages commonly spoken among patient populations that present to emergency departments most often.

Acute Shoulder Injuries in the Emergency Department

Shoulder injuries account for a significant portion of musculoskeletal injuries evaluated in the emergency department.The incidence is projected to increase dramatically over the next decade because of changing population characteristics. Emergency medicine clinicians must be prepared to care for shoulder injuries from direct trauma and overuse from sporting activities or occupational injuries.

Early Missed Sepsis Diagnosis Leads to $2 Million Award for Patient

This case highlights the importance of screening patients properly and the compounding risks for nurses, physicians, and hospitals that can result when staff miss a screening.

When ED Is Packed, Keep Patients Moving with Triage Hallway, Dedicated Staff

Since Pull to Infinity was implemented in June 2022, the average time it takes to see a provider in the ED has dropped from 22 minutes to seven minutes. This, despite continually expanding volumes. The average patient arrival-to-discharge time has improved to 175 minutes, down seven minutes. Also, the leave-without-being-seen rate declined from 3.5% last year to 1.6% in the first four months of 2023.

Patient Progression Hub Optimizes Throughput, Centralizes Decision-Making

Children’s Mercy in Kansas City aims to leverage an impressive array of artificial intelligence-driven tools, predictive analytics, and other feats of engineering to hone patient flow to new heights of efficiency.

Tackling Bias in Healthcare Requires Awareness, Data-Gathering, and High-Level Commitment

Healthcare systems have collectively turned their attention to promoting equity and rooting out bias. The results of a recently published study of how emergency nurses experience and react to bias suggests much work remains. Further, the authors maintained significant change is likely to require a firm commitment from the upper ranks of institutions to ensure equity is not just a slogan.

Emergency Nurse Criminally Charged for Diverting Pain Medications

There are specific malpractice risks for EDs in this situation. Risks for patients include inadequate pain relief and infectious disease transmission. There also are patient safety issues related to receiving care from an impaired provider. For leaders, there are processes to put in place that can help them identify patterns or trends indicating potential diversion.

Some ED Malpractice Lawsuits Hinge on Security Camera Footage

Security footage of ED waiting rooms is relevant to claims alleging delayed triage, failure to re-assess the patient during a long wait, or failure to intervene if a patient deteriorated in the waiting room. However, many claims involve allegations of delayed treatment or diagnosis. What happened in the waiting room, before the patient was brought back for evaluation, could have contributed to a poor outcome.

Shorten Lengths of Stay, Reduce Revisit Rates for Pediatric Patients Who Present with Behavioral Health Needs

EDs might rely on telemedicine from a third-party company, a sister hospital with pediatricians on staff, consult services from local pediatricians, or ensure at least one provider in the department is trained in pediatric care.