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Chest pain is one of the conditions most likely to lead to a charge of malpractice for two main reasons, says Diane M. Sixsmith, MD, MPH, FACEP, chairman of emergency medicine at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens in Flushing.
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As EDs look for any solution that will help ease the problems of overcrowding and long wait times, one is finding that a technique already used in the restaurant industry can work in a health care setting as well.
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It sounds like a good idea, and consultants are throwing it around all the time: Cross-train your staff so you get more out of the same people. But how exactly do you cross-train the staff?
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This column addresses reader questions about the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
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"EMTALA: The Essential Guide to Compliance" from Thomson American Health Consultants, publisher of Emergency Medicine Reports, explains how the changes to EMTALA will affect emergency departments and off-campus clinics.
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The emergency physician is faced with a wide variety of acute respiratory emergencies in daily practice. Noninvasive ventilation (NIV), a means of delivering positive pressure ventilation without the use of an endotracheal tube, is a powerful therapeutic tool in the hands of an informed physician. This article will delineate the physiology of NIV. It will provide guidelines for initiation, weaning, and possible complications of NIV. It also will highlight current research in the topic.
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Emergency department physicians must be vigilant to accurately assess,
rapidly stabilize, and appropriately transport a severely injured
patient to the level of trauma care the patient requires. Instead of
viewing missed injuries as occurrences that result from inexperience or
incompetence, strategies to minimize the occurrence of missed injuries
and the resulting consequences are needed. All aspects of a trauma
system must work together to improve patient care.
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Although cervical spine injuries are uncommon in children, a missed or
delayed diagnosis may have devastating consequences for the patient. A
thorough understanding of normal pediatric anatomy, injury patterns,
and children who are at increased risk for injury is critical for the
physician caring for the acutely injured child.
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The FDA has approved the first nasally administered flu vaccine to be marketed in this country. Medimmunes FluMist is also the first influenza vaccine to use live virus.
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Although noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) has become a standard of care for acute-on-chronic ventilatory failure in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the numerous reported studies have left uncertain how the clinician should select patients who should receive this therapy.
