ED Management – January 1, 2007
January 1, 2007
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One-third of EDs may fail to meet 90-minute target for heart attack patients
Noting that only about one-third of hospitals provide emergency care to heart attack patients quickly enough to meet scientific guidelines for saving lives, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) has debuted a campaign called "D2B: An Alliance for Quality," aimed at helping EDs and their hospitals cut an average of 30 minutes off their door-to-balloon (D2B) times by adopting six core strategies: -
System says ED patients will have zero wait times
Not content with a 30-minute guarantee that it has been offering its ED patients for six years, Michigan's Oakwood Healthcare System has declared that patients will now be seen as soon as they walk though the ED doors. So far, so good, say ED staffers, who concede that the new approach could not have been accomplished by the ED alone. -
Multivariable testing cuts door-to-doc times by 24%
Members of the ED staff at Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, TN, have cut the door-to-doc time from one hour to 45 minutes, and they hope to get it below 30 minutes, following a new initiative using a process called multivariable testing (MVT). -
New evidence-based MTBI discharge form proposed
Citing a lack of consistency and complete information in ED discharge forms for patients with mild-trauma brain injury (MTBI), researchers at the University of Buffalo (NY) have proposed a new discharge form they say reflects the key risk factors outlined in research literature. Their findings are reported in the August 2006 issue of Brain Injury. -
Mapping system gets patient to the right ED
A new web-based mapping system in Loma Linda, CA, provides EDs and emergency service organizations in a wide geographical area with real-time information that helps ensure that accident and disaster victims will get to the closest available ED in the shortest possible time. Called AEGIS (Advanced Emergency Geographic Information Systems), it was developed by the Redlands, CA-based Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) for the Center for Prehospital Care, Education, and Research at Loma Linda University Medical Center. -
Study: Missed diagnoses have multiple causes
What causes missed diagnoses in the ED? A research team from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston decided that one of the best places to seek the answer was in actual malpractice cases, so they reviewed 122 closed malpractice claims from four liability insurers in which patients had alleged a missed or delayed diagnosis in the ED. Their findings?