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After you have security escort patient Joe Jones out of the ED for causing such a ruckus when he couldnt get any Vicodin, youre thinking youd like to avoid this obvious drug seeker in the future. So maybe you should add his name to the list of frequent flyers or the kook book your staff keep at the nursing station.
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This is the last of a three-part series addressing the top five issues that lead to malpractice claims in the emergency department and how you can reduce the risk. In the last two issues, we addressed chest pain, headache, and abdominal pain. This month, ED Management looks at head injury and stroke.
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Procalcitonin concentrations have been shown to be elevated in severe bacterial infections, but remain low in viral infections and non-specific inflammatory diseases. The objective of this study was to
assess the capability of a new, rapid, and sensitive procalcitonin assay to identify bacterial lower respiratory tract infections needing antimicrobial treatment.
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The tracing in the Figure was obtained from a 59-year-old woman with a long history of smoking. She presented with acute dyspnea and atypical chest pain. Because of moderate respiratory difficulty, this was the best quality tracing obtainable. In full acknowledgment of its suboptimal technical quality, how would you interpret this ECG? What findings may be of potential concern?
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Sometimes, you have to look beyond the walls of your ED for solutions to your overcrowding problems, says Sandy Vecellio, RN, BSN, clinical manager of the ED at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, GA. And when things really get rough, she advises, send out an SOS.
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The liability crisis in many states is an overwhelming threat to our nations emergency care system, says Angela Gardner, MD, an emergency physician and board member of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Irving, TX.
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Another strategy for improving patient satisfaction in the ED at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock is the calming effect, which aims to create an environment that is less stressful for the patient.
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