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In the course of less than a year, the ED at Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge, VA, has reduced its rate of patients who leave without treatment (LWT) from the 8%-9% range to just under 1.5% without adding any new staff or hours.
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The new ED at Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights, IL, is a bit untraditional: It has no waiting room.
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The ED at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, IA, has played a central role in the dramatic improvement in hospitalwide compliance with The Joint Commission core measures for community acquired pneumonia (CAP).
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The increased use of computed tomography (CT) scans, while revolutionizing diagnostic radiology, also has brought with it a greater risk of radiation and potential cancer cases, according to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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In an attempt to enhance what it considered a sluggish nationwide response to the Institute of Medicine's calls for reducing error and improving patient outcomes in hospital care, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) initiated in 2004 an ambitious, highly visible, 18-month program.
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Multiple recent studies have demonstrated that red blood cell (RBC) transfusion may be deleterious to critically ill patients, as it has been found to be associated with increased mortality following coronary artery bypass surgery, increased rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia and worse outcomes in patients with burn injury and trauma.
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De Jong and colleagues in The Netherlands conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical study of intravenous vs oral corticosteroids in the treatment of patients hospitalized because of an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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Previous work demonstrates that selective gut decontamination decreases the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), but the practice has been limited by concerns about promoting antibiotic resistance.
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In this issue: FDA warnings for existing drugs dominate pharmaceutical news this month.
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