ED Management articles from May 2003

ED Management archives from May 2003

Will your ED have staff quarantined for SARS? Brace yourself for the worst: one New Mexico ED lost one-third of its staff with no warning.
May 1, 2003... Imagine being told to send home almost one-third of your ED staff with absolutely no advance notice and those technicians, nurses, and physicians being off the schedule for several days. That's exactly what happened to an ED manager at...

SARS: what U.S. hospitals can learn from Canada.
May 1, 2003... Hospital clinicians in the United States are watching with grave concern as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)--a rapidly emerging infection with unclear treatment options--strikes the health care system of their Canadian colleagues....

Limit staff's contact with possible SARS patients.
May 1, 2003... In a hectic and crowded ED, it is a daunting challenge to limit the number of individuals who have contact with a potential severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patient. However, with the possibility of staff quarantines due to SARS, it is...

APCs: lack of knowledge can hurt your bottom line.(ambulatory payment classifications)
May 1, 2003... [Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on improving ED reimbursement under ambulatory payment classifications (APCs). Last month, we covered nursing assessment criteria, ED chargemasters, billing for evaluation and management...

Know these facts before facing smallpox vaccine: others' experiences help you avoid problems.
May 1, 2003... Ever since ED managers learned that their staff could be among those to receive the smallpox vaccine, there have been concerns about risks to both staff and patients, and staffing problems of epic proportions. Now there is real-life experience...

Emtala Q & A.(Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act )
May 1, 2003... Question: If a triage nurse sees a patient and performs vital signs, then asks the patient to take a seat, is the nurse able to tell the patient how long the expected wait might be? In our ED, sometimes the wait for less acute patients is...

Save $100,000 by using saline locks instead of IVs. (Cost-Saving Tip).
May 1, 2003... By putting in saline locks instead of intravenous (IV) lines, you save the cost of IV fluids that often are not needed, says Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP, FAAP, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Little Company of Mary Hospital and...

Chest pain centers now can be accredited.
May 1, 2003... Whether your facility has a chest pain center or not, this news will be of keen interest to you as an ED manager: There is now an accreditation process for chest pain centers. "The chest pain center model soon will become the preferred...

CE/CME questions.
May 1, 2003... 7. Which is recommended when caring for a patient with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to Stephen Colucciello, MD, assistant chair of the department of emergency medicine at Carolinas Medical...

Triage screening for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Standard, contact, and airborne isolation will be initiated at triage in the following circumstances: * fever; AND * respiratory Illness (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, hypoxia); AND * travel...

Continuous compliance: starting in 2006, your ED must be prepared for unannounced accreditation surveys.
May 1, 2003... If your emergency department (ED) is in the process of preparing for your hospital s triennial accreditation survey this year, or will have one in 2004 or 2005, it will be the last time you have to deal with the stressful ramp-up. The...

CMS, JCAHO now using same Life Safety Code: facilities will see easing of some restrictions.(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
May 1, 2003... Emergency departments (EDs) received some welcome news in January when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted the same edition of the Life Safety Code referenced in the Joint Commission standards. The change affects EDs...

Quality, timely care: an ED's keys to compliance: staffing, overcrowding make it difficult.
May 1, 2003... It sounds simple enough: When surveyors look at key accreditation areas, the performance of an emergency department (ED) boils down to whether the ED gives patients quality care in a timely manner. But when patient load and staffing don't...

Core measures. (Quick Fact).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Core measures: The accreditation report issued after an organization is surveyed compares the organization's performance against national quality goals and Joint Commission core measures. Core measures for hospitals are acute myocardial...