Save Lives Now: Five Ways to Improve Patient Safety in the ED

From Hospitals & Health Networks Magazine, part of their Save Lives Now series.
Save Lives Now: Five Ways to Improve Patient Safety in the ED
Hospital emergency departments are the theater of valiant American medicine. Every day, approximately 300,000 patients visit EDs across the country, with conditions ranging from a twisted ankle to severe trauma. The overwhelming [...]

Newsweek Article on Resuscitation

Published in this week’s Newsweek:
To Treat the Dead: The new science of resuscitation is changing the way doctors think about heart attacks—and death itself.
Consider someone who has just died of a heart attack. His organs are intact, he hasn’t lost blood. All that’s happened is his heart has stopped beating—the definition of “clinical death”—and his [...]

Quality Improvement in the ED

A link to an interesting article from Hospitals and Health Networks magazine, “Save lives now: Five ways to improve patient safety in the ED”
Another link, to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Operational and Clinical Improvement in the Emergency Department resource page

EM Blogs, in the News

One of our favorite bloggers, GruntDoc, was mentioned in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Here are his comments about this honor.
Here’s a link to the article and an excerpt:
Dr. Allen Roberts, an attending emergency physician at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, had a problem. He’d just raised the ire of the nurses who work with [...]

Crocs Cause Medical Machinery Malfunctions?

From Medgadget:
Blekinge hospital in southern Sweden suspects the slip-on shoes, made by US firm Crocs Inc, are to blame for at least three incidents in which respirators and other machines malfunctioned. The mishaps caused no injuries. Hospital spokesman Bjorn Lofqvist said staff wearing the clogs could turn into “a cloud of lighting” because of the [...]

Use Criteria to Manage Febrile Infants in the ED Without Antibiotics

From ACEP:
Screening criteria can predict which febrile infants presenting to an emergency department will not have serious bacterial infections and can be safely discharged home without antibiotics. This conclusion was drawn from a retrospective analysis reported by Dr. Taj Madiwale and colleagues at the southern regional meeting of the American Federation for Medical Research.
The study [...]

Quick, Cheap & Easy Bedside Diagnosis of Brain Injury

From Medgadget:
Infrascanner™ is a hand-held, non-invasive, near-infrared (NIR) based mobile imaging device to detect brain hematoma at the site of injury within the “golden hour”. This refers to the period following head trauma when pre-hospital analysis is needed to rapidly assess the neurological condition of a victim. Pending FDA clearance, the Infrascanner™ will be an [...]

Quint Studer’s Blog: Supporting and Appreciating Emergency Departments

From the blog of Quint Studer of the Studer Group:
After spending time on Saturday, February 24, 2007, with more than 1,400 emergency nurses at the Emergency Nurses Association meeting in Boston, I feel so much better. I saw such dedication to the health care calling, motivation to learn how to be even better leaders, and [...]

The Call Schedule at Community Hospital

A blog post from Dr. Edwin Leap: The Call Schedule at Community Hospital
An excerpt:
This weekend’s call schedule is as follows:
Surgery: Dr. Johansen is on call for general surgery. Please remember that he does not like to operate on children or the uninsured. He also considers trauma an enormous inconvenience. If you [...]

ACEP Responds to JACHO RE: First Dose

From ACEP:
Joint Commission Reinstates First Dose Medication ReviewApril 13, 2007
Medications administered in an emergency department must once again be reviewed prospectively by a pharmacist, according to a notification sent to hospitals last week by the Joint Commission. But a conversation with the Joint Commission president indicates that the reversal may not be permanent.
ACEP President Brian [...]