Emergency Department Management & Law
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An ED-Friendly Screening Tool to Identify Potentially Violent Patients
Considering violence is a continuing concern in the emergency setting, there is high interest in new mechanisms that can identify potentially violent patients at the front end of their care encounters. This way, safeguards or preventive measures can be activated to keep providers and other patients safe. However, any such tool needs to be brief and easily integrated into the workflow of a busy ED.
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Educators Hope Emergency Nurse Residency Program Can Improve Retention, Prevent Burnout
What is the best way to prepare a new nurse for the challenges and requirements of an ED? This is a question the Emergency Nurses Association has been grappling with in recent years, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic put unprecedented pressure on the profession. The answer might be a comprehensive emergency nurse residency program capable of providing graduates and nurses new to the emergency environment with the judgment, skills, and resilience to launch long and successful careers.
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The Case for a Team Approach to Manage Agitated Patients
While many EDs have instituted mechanisms to quickly trigger security staff, a Connecticut hospital created a unique team-based protocol that includes security and clinicians. Everyone works together to protect staff and prevent the need for restraints, sedatives, or other potentially harmful interventions. After three years, staff report they feel safer, and new data show the approach is associated with a lower rate of physical restraint use.
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Remain Vigilant for Signs of Monkeypox
Emergency clinicians should include the possibility of monkeypox in any patient presenting with early symptoms suggestive of the illness and certainly for those with a new rash and epidemiological risk factors.
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Call Patients to Reinforce Discharge Instructions, Stress Need for Follow-Up Care
Follow-up calls to patients after they have been discharged may be far down on the priority list for busy EDs. However new data suggest such calls can ensure patients understand their discharge instructions and prevent repeat visits.
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ED Visit Is Teachable Moment on Stroke Care
Researchers provided an ED-based educational intervention to 100 Black patients at an urban facility, including video, brochure, and verbal counseling. After, participants were much more likely to demonstrate confidence in the ability to recognize stroke symptoms in themselves or others and were more likely to feel confident about calling 911 in the case of stroke warning signs.
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New Checklist Offers Roadmap for Improved Diagnostic Performance
Researchers created 10 high-priority practices they maintain are key to promoting diagnostic excellence.
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Ethics Plays Important Role in Response to Abortion Ruling
As healthcare professionals process the clinical, legal, and even personal implications of the recent Supreme Court decision to allow states to restrict abortion access or ban it entirely, ethicists play an important role.
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Documentation Mistakes Lead to Significant Malpractice Awards
Ensure charts are generated honestly, and check to make sure key care decisions are carefully documented regarding consent.
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Legally Protective Charting Sticks to the Facts
Charts containing emotional statements, accusations, and speculations might be compelling reading, but they are legally problematic.