ED Management articles from December 2003

ED Management archives from December 2003

Want to drastically cut LWBS numbers? try ice packs and adding a fast track: comfort and quick care can reduce risk of EMTALA violations.
December 1, 2003... Somewhere deep in an ED manager's mind, maybe when you're feeling cynical at 3 a.m., the patients who left without being seen (LWBS) might seem like a blessing. After all, your ED is too busy, and they probably didn't need emergency care in the...

Are more lumbar punctures needed after CT scan?
December 1, 2003... Far too many emergency physicians are complacent about the use of lumbar punctures following a negative computed tomography (CT) scan to rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage in a patient with high-risk headache ("worst ever" or "thunderclap"...

Tool ensures follow-up for traumatized children: survey predicts post-traumatic stress disorder.
December 1, 2003... A child comes in for an injury in a traffic accident in which others were hurt and killed. The ED clinicians take care of the physical injuries, and the patient is discharged. Still, the staff members feel uneasy about the impact of the...

Emtala Q & A.
December 1, 2003... [Editor's note: This column is part of an ongoing series that addresses readers' questions about the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). If you have a question you'd like answered, contact Greg Freeman, Editor, ED Management,...

CDC: heart problems not linked to smallpox vaccine.
December 1, 2003... The nation's efforts to vaccinate ED staff and other frontline health care providers against smallpox hit a serious bump when some people developed serious heart problems after the vaccination, but the concerns were unwarranted, states the...

SARS plan offers tools, but could be hard to use.
December 1, 2003... ED managers are no longer on their own when it comes to figuring out how to respond to prepare and respond to a resurgence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)--but they're not home free just yet. The Centers for Disease Control and...

CE/CME questions.
December 1, 2003... 13. How did the ED at Onslow Memorial Hospital keep nurses aware of its left-without-being-seen rates? A. By telling individual nurses during performance reviews B. By posting rates in the ED C. By periodic announcements on the...

SARS audio program updates guidelines.
December 1, 2003... Leading epidemiologists say a global return of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)--which wreaked havoc on the health care systems that had to deal with it--is almost inevitable. The current overriding concern is that SARS will resurface...

CE/CME objectives.
December 1, 2003... * Discuss and apply new information about various approaches to ED management. (See "Want to drastically cut LWBS numbers? Try ice packs and adding a fast track" and "Fast track keeps everyone moving through your ED" in this issue.) *...

CE/CME instructions.
December 1, 2003... Physicians and nurses participate in this CE/ CME program by reading the issue, using the references for research, and studying the questions. Participants should select what they believe to be the correct answers, then refer to the answer key...