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A new study published online by the journal Health Affairs had some sobering, though perhaps not surprising, news for ED managers. Between 1997 and 2004, waits increased 36% (from 22 to 30 minutes, on average) for the more than 90,000 ED patients whose records the researchers reviewed.
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One year ago, the waiting room situation in the ED at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC, was "a sinking ship," according to John Reid, MD, chairman of emergency services.
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New receiving processes, a new team structure, and zone divisions in the ED at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC, have enabled the hospital to cut triage time in half, according to Linda K. Dietterich, RN, MS, CEN, CAN, service line director for the ED.
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The time-to-triage in the two very busy EDs in the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta system has been cut in half in less than a year through a process improvement initiative that eliminated several steps in the initial assessment.
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The U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VA) National Center for Ethics in Health Care launched a major ethics integration initiative in 2007, including a new component that seeks to standardize and evaluate the quality of ethics consultations.
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Following the deaths of two patients at specialty hospitals owned by physicians in both cases, the patients suffered complications following surgery, no physician was on duty, and the specialty hospitals called 9-1-1 to respond the Senate Finance Committee asked the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to evaluate patient care at 109 physician-owned specialty hospitals in the United States, and the OIG report, released in January, has raised concerns for patient safety.
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Have you hugged a patient today? Whether your answer is yes or no, there will be disagreement about the wisdom of your choice.
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Hospital staff have a plethora of ethical duties while their patients are hospitalized under their care, but clinicians need to remember that their duty to provide ethical care extends right up to and even beyond the point of discharge, says Emory University ethicist John Banja, PhD.
