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The two new items added to the 2006 National Patient Safety Goals were ones that received the highest marks in the first-ever field review of proposed patient safety goals for outpatient surgery programs.
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Meeting the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations standard for competency assessment of staff was a problem for 14% of ambulatory care organizations and 15% of office-based surgery organizations surveyed in 2004, according to Joint Commission statistics.
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Few chief complaints cause more apprehension and dread for emergency physicians than dizziness. It is a common condition seen in the emergency department, is understood poorly, and has potentially malignant etiologies. Dizziness cannot be measured. It can mean different things to different patients and is often difficult to precisely characterize. Unfortunately, it is the ability to obtain a precise history and perform an exacting examination that allows a diagnosis to be made and appropriate treatment instituted. This article examines some of the different causes of dizziness, how they can be differentiated via history and physical examination, and their appropriate treatments and dispositions.
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Barriers to the informed consent process may exist among emergency patients, including impaired decisional capacity, impaired cognition, language barriers, illiteracy, insufficient time and communication, and numerous others. Because of the inherent vulnerability of ED patients, particular attention should be paid to addressing barriers to adequate informed consent, and steps should be taken to ensure adequate delivery of information, understanding of the proposed intervention and its risks and benefits, and voluntariness of the informed consent.
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Stopping Aspirin Before Surgery; The Sponge Returns; Preventing Metabolic Syndrome; FDA Actions
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The emergency department physician is the critical link between the patient and the diagnostic tests, including radiographs, that are ordered. This article provides information on common radiographic errors to help clinicians improve their accuracy, confidence and subsequent patient care.
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Mykietiuk and colleagues report that 139 (7.2%) of 1934 prospectively evaluated adults without severe immunocompromise admitted over an approximately 8-year period to a university hospital in Barcelona because of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) had evidence of Legionella infection.
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Staphylococcus epidermidis continues to be a troublesome pathogen, mainly due to its ability to form biofilms that protect this species and allow it to express unique features that guarantee its survival. The main molecules involved in biofilm formation are under intense study.
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Intravascular, device-related bloodstream infection (IDR-BSI) are a major source of morbidity and mortality. An estimated 250,000 infections occur annually in the United States, with an attributable mortality of 12-25%.
