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What is your No. 1 obstacle to reducing delays and improving patient flow? For many ED managers, the culprit increasingly is inpatients being held in the ED for hours or even days.
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Question: Some of our physicians insist on sending their patients to our ED for injections to treat ongoing medical conditions. One patient was scheduled for magnetic resonance imagine (MRI), but due to back pain, he was unable to lie still for the test. The physician ordered a narcotic injection to be given to assist the patient in getting through the test. Even though the MRI was scheduled and the injection order was included with the MRI order, we in the ED refused to administer the medication without a medical screening examination (MSE). The physician was irate, and the patient left unhappy. Did we do the right thing?
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This article, the second of two parts, deals with the potentially disastrous situation in which either the patients airway presents a substantial challenge or standard intubation methods have failed.
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The demographics of our foreign-born population have undergone a polar shift during the past 50 years. Europeans once made up the majority of new arrivals, but Asians and Latin Americans now predominate. Part II of this series will familiarize physicians with some of the infections and diseases specific to immigrants from particular regions of the world.
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Bronchiolitis is an acute lower respiratory tract infection caused by a virus, resulting in small airway obstruction. Although some classic symptomswheezing, hypoxia, and hyperinflationtypically are associated with bronchiolitis, many young infants may not have wheezing as part of their initial presentation.
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Synopsis: The clinical decision rule tested in this study reduced unnecessary hospital admissions in patients with suspected acute cardiac ischemia without affecting safety.
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In a recent issue of Critical Care Alert I discussed the epidemiology and pathophysiology of invasive fungal infections that afflict patients in the ICU. In this issue, I review the current treatment options.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is pilot testing 8 of the 11 standardized intensive care core measures initially put forth for public comment.
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The centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) has issued updated guidance to help infection control professionals prevent costly intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infections (BSIs).
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Smallpox Vaccination and Adverse ReactionsGuidance for Clinicians in the Jan. 24th edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The guidance is a thorough review of the smallpox vaccine with a well-illustrated compendium of complications.
