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Asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness; it is estimated that it currently affects 6 million children in the United States.
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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?
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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.
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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?
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In light of the existing health care crisis, patients who leave the emergency department (ED) against medical advice (AMA) will foreseeably represent an increasing population of emergency patients. Despite this, these patients have attracted little academic interest within the emergency medicine literature.
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A recently arbitrated case presents a starting off point for a discussion regarding a commonly applied dressing and a frequently used but often misunderstood method of resolving medial malpractice disputes.
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Five employees from Redlands (CA) Community Hospital recently obtained training in fundamentals of emergency management at the Center for Domestic Preparedness based in Anniston, AL, operated by the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). ED leaders say this valuable training has made them much better prepared for any disasters they might face.
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Remember how you were told in medical school that history is 90% of diagnosis? Was it usually ascribed to William Osler or another such legendary figure? Do you still believe it?
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In three years, the ED at Dameron Hospital in Stockton, CA, has achieved total savings of $650,000 through a combination of staffing optimization, creation of atypical shifts and a flexible internal pool, and providing staff the option to take open shifts, all while still meeting the challenging nursing ratios required by the state. These changes were made in concert with The Optime Group, a consulting firm based in Evanston, IL.
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Even with the outbreak of H1N1 influenza in its relative infancy, and no one knowing for certain how dire the situation might become, ED managers and their staffs are taking the situation very seriously.
