Search Tag: emergency department
Futile-care-for-some-delays-care-for-others
2014 29 Aug
Recent research shows that providing futile treatment to ICU patients delayed the availability of care services – often for four hours or more – for other patients requiring transfer into the ICU. In some instances, requests for ICU transfers were cancelled after patients had waited a day or longer when the ICU was full. These data came from a three-month...Read more
Outpatient-improvements-may-prevent-afhs-readmissions
2014 12 Sep
A recent study finds that repeat emergency department (ED) visits for acute heart failure suggest a lack of appropriate outpatient care. It was found that nearly one-third of acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) patients seen in hospital emergency departments in Florida and California had ED visits during the following year. The study was conducted...Read more
Pet-therapy-for-hospital-employee-stress
2014 01 Sep
A number of hospitals have long used therapy dogs to help their patients. Now, even emergency room doctors and nurses themselves have turned to pets to help relieve the stress from their daily work. At the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, ER physicians and nurses forego their sandwiches during their lunch hour in order to have "puppy" time...Read more
Does-bedspacing-affect-quality-of-care
2014 14 Sep
Overcrowding is an ongoing concern across hospitals. When the number of patients requiring hospital admission exceeds the number of available department-allotted beds, patients are often placed in a different specialty's inpatient ward, a practice known as “bedspacing”. For example, patients admitted to the general internal medicine (GIM) service might be...Read more
Ultrasound-system-developed-for-the-er
2014 19 Sep
Fujifilm SonoSite’s (Bothell, WA, USA) new ultrasound system, the X-Porte, has been specially designed for emergency medicine settings and includes novel features for the ER such as an education and training module along with the ability to save images on an external flash drive, MedImaging.Net reported. X-Porte was developed from the ground up to...Read more
First-cancer-specific-ed-opens-in-ohio
2014 29 Sep
The Ohio State University has opened its first fully integrated cancer emergency department. The Comprehensive Care Center is the result of a partnership between Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, Richard J. Solove Research Institute and Wexner Medical Center Emergency Department. The centre is based on a clinical care model that combines the expertise...Read more
93-of-paediatric-fractures-splinted-improperly
2014 12 Oct
According to a recent study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, approximately 90 percent of potential paediatric fractures are splinted improperly in emergency rooms and urgent care centres. The findings of the research were presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (APP) National Conference & Exhibition...Read more
Prescription-opioids-involved-in-most-overdoses-seen-in-eds
2014 30 Oct
Researchers have analysed data on US hospital emergency department visits for opioid overdoses and found that the largest portion of the overdoses (67.8 percent) involved prescription opioids, followed by heroin, other unspecified opioids and multiple opioids. The findings have been published by JAMA Internal Medicine . According to available data,...Read more
New-tool-for-severe-sepsis-septic-shock-diagnosis
2015 04 Jan
A new study, published in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of an electronic alert system in detecting severe sepsis or septic shock in ED patients. The study was carried out at a tertiary academic medical centre in Saudi Arabia. The results showed high specificity and sensitivity and negative...Read more
Chest-pain-in-ed-initial-diagnostic-testing-not-tied-to-future-risk-of-mi
2015 26 Jan
Patients sent to hospital emergency departments for chest pain, but who did not have a heart attack, appeared to have a low risk of experiencing any heart attacks during subsequent short-term and long-term follow-up periods, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine . The risk was not affected by the initial diagnostic testing strategy....Read more
Satisfaction-with-imaging-reports-in-emergency-settings
2015 31 Mar
In emergency settings, timeliness, readability, and accuracy of imaging reports are of the utmost importance for case management. This study aimed to determine physicians' preference towards three types of structured imaging reports — basic structured report (BSR), itemised report (IR), and point-and-click report (PCR) — used in emergency radiology....Read more
Patient-confusion-about-opioid-addiction-in-the-ed
2015 14 Apr
Emergency department (ED) patients have misperceptions about opioid dependence and want more information about their pain management options, according to researchers from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Patients seen in the ED for acute pain, the researchers note, expressed a desire for better communication from physicians...Read more
Determining-heart-attack-in-the-er
2015 16 Apr
A multicentre study by Swiss and Spanish researchers has found that a new strategy to rule out and rule in heart attacks in emergency departments will help physicians treat patients faster. The new technique, called high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T 1-hour algorithm, was previously tested in a small pilot study. The research team decided to conduct...Read more
Twitter-can-help-predict-er-visits
2015 20 Apr
Twitter can be a useful tool for hospitals, according to University of Arizona researchers who observed how asthma-related tweets, analysed alongside other data, can help predict asthma-related emergency room (ER) visits. The researchers created a model that was able to predict approximately how many asthma sufferers would visit the ER at a large...Read more
Randomised-trials-in-healthcare-delivery
2015 21 Apr
Economists and other academic researchers have increasingly been using randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to study all sorts of things, including how to best fight poverty. In the area of healthcare delivery, however, the use of RCTs is still not common — which is surprising given that the link between healthcare and poverty is strong, according to...Read more
Frequent-ed-use-linked-to-higher-admissions-deaths
2015 12 May
Frequent users of emergency department (ED) care are more than twice as likely as infrequent users to die, be admitted to hospital, or require other outpatient treatment. The new findings are based on a systematic review of available evidence and published online in Emergency Medicine Journal . Relevant data analysed by researchers from the University...Read more
Routine-inpatient-admission-not-beneficial-for-patients-with-chest-pain
2015 19 May
According to an article published in JAMA Internal Medicine, routine inpatient admission may not be a beneficial strategy for patients with chest pain. Patients with negative findings and nonconcerning vital signs rarely had adverse cardiac events. Patients with potentially ischaemic chest pain are commonly admitted to the hospital or are kept under...Read more
Telemedicine-reduces-cost-of-care
2015 25 May
An UC Davis study has shown that compared to telephone, paediatric telemedicine consultations produced significant cost savings while improving quality of care. Telemedicine systems may be expensive to install and maintain, but they more than pay their way, saving an average $4,662 per use, researchers say. The findings are reported in the journal...Read more
How-to-manage-pain-in-the-er
2015 16 Jun
A simple yes/no question could be an effective tool to help patients decide for themselves whether their pain is adequately controlled, according to researchers conducting a study to evaluate the efficacy of a new evidence-based protocol to treat acute, severe pain in emergency department patients. Simply asking the question, "Do you want more pain...Read more
Successful-outsourcing-relationships
2015 22 Jun
Clinical outsourcing can be an important strategy for health providers, in particular those seeking to add specific clinical expertise or make improvements in certain areas to serve patients better. So how does a hospital find a suitable clinical partner? An article, "Creating Outsourcing Relationships That Work", appearing in HealthLeaders Magazine...Read more
Trial-patient-controlled-analgesia-in-the-ed-is-effective-for-non-traumatic-abdominal-pain
2015 23 Jun
Two randomised controlled trials of patient-administered patient relief in the emergency department have found that they are effective in reducing pain. Currently, patients arriving in emergency departments may be administered morphine intravenously by a nurse. Whilst this is safe and works, it takes up nursing time. Two randomised controlled trials...Read more
4-ways-to-reduce-waiting-times
2015 19 Jul
In order to provide better health care, it is important for hospitals to reduce their wait times, particularly in the emergency department (ED). It is a fact that patients who are treated quickly have better health outcomes as compared to those who have to wait for a long time. This is especially true for health conditions such as heart attacks and...Read more
Ankle-injuries-in-children-don-t-always-need-an-x-ray
2015 23 Jul
Emergency physicians can safely reduce x-rays in children with injured ankles by as much as 23 percent, resulting in cost and time savings for patients, according to Canadian researchers who conducted a cost analysis of the Low Risk Ankle Rule (LRAR). The findings are reported in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine . "Currently, x-rays are ordered...Read more
Improving-health-information-exchange-in-the-er
2015 10 Aug
An article published in Annals of Emergency Medicine offers guidance on maximising the value of health information exchange (HIE) in emergency departments. The report lists five primary and seven secondary recommendations made by an emergency physician-led workgroup to improve HIE in the emergency room. "HIE helps emergency physicians — who usually...Read more
Pilots-reduce-readmissions-and-overcrowding
2015 05 Sep
The UCLA Center for Prehospital Care and collaborators from the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agency and the Glendale and Santa Monica fire departments have launched two pilot programmes that are designed to reduce hospital readmissions and address overcrowding in emergency rooms. The Community Paramedic Pilot Programs will expand...Read more
Arabs-and-jews-get-equal-pain-treatment-in-the-er
2015 10 Sep
Results of an Israeli study indicate that ethnic differences, including during periods of armed conflicts, have no effect on pain treatment in children who visit the emergency departments with broken bones or joint dislocations. These paediatric patients with fracture or dislocation received equal pain treatment in the ED regardless of their ethnicity...Read more
Collaboration-biggest-challenge-for-healthcare-lean-management
2015 28 Sep
Use of Lean management methodology to improve care efficiencies is new for healthcare. A new report in The Journal of Nursing Administration describes how a Lean-based in the emergency department of a large hospital significantly reduced patients’ wait times and length of stay, while improving patient throughput and satisfaction level. The approach...Read more
Study-ct-can-change-er-physicians-diagnoses
2015 14 Oct
In emergency department settings, CT scan results can substantially change physicians' diagnoses, diagnostic confidence, and admission decisions, according to a new study from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute for Technology Assessment. The finding, reported in the journal Radiology , adds important information to health policy debates...Read more
Study-ed-icu-collaboration-reduced-sepsis-mortality-costs
2015 23 Oct
Close collaboration between the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) and standardised ICU admission criteria for patients with sepsis can significantly reduce mortality rate and care costs, according to new research published in CHEST Journal. "Although ICU level of care is costly, earlier inclusion of borderline patients may improve...Read more
Doctor-patient-relationship-is-key-to-reducing-ct-scan-overuse-in-ed
2015 23 Nov
In emergency department settings, overuse of computed tomography (CT) for minor head injury continues despite rigorously validated clinical decision rules like the Canadian CT Head Rule (CCHR). Medical experts say one in every three CT scans performed on patients with minor head injury is unnecessary. New research from Yale University has found that,...Read more