-
Hsu J, Reed M, Brand R, et al. Cost sharing: Patient knowledge and effects on seeking emergency department care. Med Care 2004; 42:290-296. Saketkhoo DD, Bhargavan M, Sunshine JH, et al. Emergency department image interpretation services at private community hospitals. Radiology 2004; 231:190-197. Lyons MS, Lindsell CJ, Trott AT. Emergency department pelvic examination and Pap testing: Addressing patient misperceptions. Acad Emerg Med 2004; 11:405-408.
-
In addition to increased numbers of mentally ill patients, emergency departments (EDs) are seeing more uninsured patients than in the past, and the numbers could grow, warns Brian Hancock, MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Irving, TX. Your budget planning should factor in more uninsured patients, not just the same level you have coped with for years.
-
An analysis tool commonly used for investigating adverse events and other process errors in health care can prove useful in the ED as well, say experts who have seen it used to address long wait times and similar problems. The technique is called root-cause analysis (RCA), and chances are youve heard the term tossed around, but its not as likely that youve actually employed it in the ED.
-
A root-cause analysis (RCA) is a complex tool that requires professional training, but an ED manager can utilize it with the help of an expert, says Kenneth A. Hirsch, MD, PhD, a practicing psychiatrist and director of Medical Risk Management Associates, a consulting firm in Honolulu.
-
Even if you dont want to offer a service guarantee like those EDs that promise to treat patients in 30 minutes or less, you probably wouldnt mind streamlining your ED and improving patient flow through. So how do those hospitals promising fast service improve their EDs enough to make that promise possible?
-
Fast-track systems and 23-hour observation units are helping EDs across the country reduce ambulance diversions, but more effort is needed, one analyst says. A hospitalwide focus on more efficient use of beds also is helping ease the problem, she adds.
-
Question: Should we have a plan for responding to patients on the hospital property, but not in the ED area, when they need or request emergency care? The final rule seems to make clear that we are not obligated to rush out of the ED to provide care for anyone who does not come to a dedicated emergency department, but were not clear on what should happen when that person is elsewhere on the campus.
-
These are some of the patterns and unusual illnesses detected by the bioterrorism surveillance system being used in some Florida hospitals.
-
As an ED manager, you may be accustomed to handling the brunt of responsibility for accreditation surveys. But under the new Shared Visions New Pathways process from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, surveyors will be talking with your staff and your patients. How on earth can you prepare for that?
-
Many ED managers are unsure of how to prepare for unannounced surveys from the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which began for all facilities on Jan. 1. Here are insights from those who have had firsthand experience with the process.
