ED Management articles from January 2004

ED Management archives from January 2004

ED is hotbed for lawsuits; take simple steps to address riskiest conditions: most claims result from what you didn't do, not what you did.
January 1, 2004... (Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series addressing the top five issues that lead to malpractice claims in the emergency department and how you can address them. In this issue. ED Management examines how the ED is at especially...

Chest pain treatment options increase liability.
January 1, 2004... 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. The...

Take tip from restaurants to ease waits, ED advises.
January 1, 2004... 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. Restaurants have found...

Flu season severe: FluMist may pose little risk.
January 1, 2004... With this year's flu season shaping up to be the worst in years, encouraging your own staff to get vaccinated is one of the best things you can do to prepare for the onslaught. The new intranasal flu vaccine may be fine for emergency department...

Cross-training your staff necessitates caution.
January 1, 2004... 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?. Very carefully, says Emery Petrack, MD, FAAP,...

Success: clerical staff are cross-trained as ED techs.
January 1, 2004... An ED in Lebanon, NJ, has been cross-training clerical staff to work as technicians for the past 10 years and reports that the system is a major help in reducing the workload for nurses and other staff. "It improves efficiency and makes...

Q & A.(Emtala)
January 1, 2004... Question: Is it OK to have someone very quickly screen incoming patients at the door to catch those who clearly do not have an emergency condition--such as the woman who just wants a pregnancy test--and send them away to a public clinic or more...

CMS issues guidance on interpreting EMTALA.
January 1, 2004... Anticipating that its surveyors may have as much difficulty as ED managers in interpreting the final Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a guidance memo...

Audio program prepares your ED for return of SARS: is your facility ready for a resurgence?
January 1, 2004... 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--almost is inevitable. What would happen today if a patient with suspected or...

CE/CME questions.
January 1, 2004... For information on the CE/CME program, contact customer services at (800) 688-2421. For CE/CME instructions, see box, below left. 19. According to Diane M. Sixsmith, MD, MPH, FACEP, chairman of emergency medicine at New York Hospital...