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ED Management – October 1, 2011

October 1, 2011

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  • Evolution in testing technology enables some urban EDs to implement HIV screening at relatively low cost

    Five years after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta issued recommendations calling for all health care settings to routinely screen patients for HIV in areas where HIV prevalence is at 0.1% or higher, the practice has failed to take hold in most EDs, even though many obstacles to testing, such as burdensome informed consent requirements, for example, have been cleared away.
  • Take steps to curb violence, improve safety for ED personnel

    The potential for violence in the ED is well-recognized and often discussed. Several organizations such as The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, for example, cite the ED as being one of the most dangerous places in health care to work, and a study completed last year by the Des Plaines, IL-based Emergency Nurses Association noted that every week, between 8% and 13% of ED nurses experience some type of physical violence in the course of doing their jobs.
  • CT use more than triples in the ED, but use of the technology may be linked with a significant drop in hospitalizations

    All of the discussion in recent years about the risks from exposure to radiation from computed tomography (CT) scans has hardly dampened enthusiasm for the technology in the ED. To the contrary, a new study suggests that CT use in the ED increased by a whopping 330% between 1996 and 2007, according to a retrospective look at data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which is a national survey of services in emergency departments conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA. However, the study also suggests that the increase in CT use may be associated with a dramatic reduction in hospitalizations.
  • High-tech approach to medication reconciliation saves time, bolsters safety at hospital in northern Virginia

    There is no question that hospitals face innumerable challenges in meeting the "meaningful use" of health information technology (HIT) criteria established by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009.