Articles Tagged With: ICU
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Case Management at the Entry Points: Ensuring Reimbursement Through Appropriate Surveillance
At a time when capacity and reimbursement are more important than ever, case managers play a key role in helping operations run smoothly. One way this happens is through monitoring the entry points of the hospital. These points include the emergency department, post-anesthesia care unit, direct admission to the units, or transfers from other facilities. This is not to say case managers should now add “security guard” to their extensive list of roles and tasks; rather, they are uniquely positioned to survey the whole picture, including how entry points are used. -
The Steep Costs of Operating Under Crisis Standards of Care
New data shine a harsh light on what can happen when hospitals become so overcrowded that they have to resort to crisis standards of care, a level of care where practice standards are relaxed under the strain of scarce resources.
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Hospital Reduces Alarms in Burn Center ICU
When a team set out to address alarm fatigue at a North Carolina burn center ICU, they found success with implementing new best practices that addressed some of the most common reasons for nuisance alarms. But they also found those wins can slip when staff changes bring new people who were not trained in the updated ways and new leadership that was not there for the initial effort. -
Hybrid ED/ICU Setting Cuts Critical Care Admission Rates
For patients and families, a combination ED-ICU means avoiding costly ICU admissions that do not align with care goals. For health systems, it means alleviating ICU capacity strain. -
Include Critical Care in Emergency Planning
Critical care often is overlooked in disaster planning. Risk managers should ensure this component is fully included. Critical care must ramp up quickly in a disaster, the same as the emergency department. -
Although Alarm Fatigue Remains a Problem, Some Progress Is Happening
New research is shedding light on alarm fatigue and how to combat it. False alarms may be more problematic than the overall noise level in a unit. -
Ethical Obstacles When Securing Informed Consent for ICU Research
Usually, there is plenty of time for patients or families to decide if they want to be involved in a clinical trial, and there is adequate time for a thorough informed consent process. It’s a bit different in the ICU. -
Fewer Family Meetings in ICU Are Reason for Dissatisfaction
Supporting families faced with making critical decisions for incapacitated loved ones is a core ethical duty for ICU clinicians. Yet little is known about family characteristics that predict their dissatisfaction with support during decision-making. -
Rapid Mortality Reviews Improve Quality and Patient Safety
Staff at a California hospital found rapid mortality reviews conducted soon after a patient death resulted in the treatment team identifying opportunities to improve the patient’s care in more than 40% of the cases. The team conducting the rapid mortality reviews concluded this technique can offer advantages over the standard retrospective case reviews, provider surveys, and structured morbidity and mortality conferences. -
Gaps in Care Occur Between ICU and Acute Care Unit
Patients who received ICU care experience problems that need to be resolved before they are discharged. These can include delirium, debility, and dysphagia, researchers say.