EMS "Virtual Museum"

Link: EMS Virtual Museum
Welcome to the formal opening of the National EMS Museum Foundation’s Virtual Museum! We have been working diligently for some months now, gathering material, researching, and (hopefully) presenting it in a format that is easy to navigate and enjoyable to see. Please…. take your time and look around. Let us know what [...]

EMS Week

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) today announced that the 34th annual Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week will be celebrated throughout the nation May 20-26, 2007. The event brings together local communities and medical personnel to publicize safety and honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving services on the medical “front [...]

EM Leaders Meet with Joint Commission About First Dose review

From ACEP.May 23, 2007
On April 6, 2007, the Joint Commission notified hospital administrators that effective immediately the interim rule delaying the standard requiring first dose prospective pharmacy review had been reversed. ACEP, working with ENA and AAEM, sent a letter of protest. In addition, the three organizations requested a face-to-face meeting with the Joint Commission [...]

USA Today: "Does where you live determine if you’ll live?"

From USA Today:
Hospital death rates are among the best-kept secrets in American medicine. The Internet may be crowded with consumer information, from school report cards to airline safety records, but death rates for most hospitals are still as closely guarded as the formulas for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Coke.
That will begin to change in [...]

CPR Glove

From Medgadget:
The CPRGloveTM is a significant development in cardiopulmonary resuscitation technology. It is a portable, inexpensive, and adaptive device designed to greatly improve the success rate of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). As simple as putting on a glove, this device will jump into action in an emergency, calmly guiding you through the life-saving steps of CPR. [...]

CMS ISSUES GUIDANCE ON HOSPITAL EMERGENCY SERVICES REQUIREMENTS

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/)
Guidance Applies to Specialty and All Other Hospitals Except Rural Critical Access Hospitals
CMS Continues to Implement the Strategic Plan for Specialty Hospitals Reported to Congress in August, 2006
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance today clarifying the responsibility of hospitals provide emergency services if [...]

Education Tool Entitled "tPA for Stroke - Potential Benefit, Risk, and Alternatives" Now Available

AAEM has created an Education Tool entitled tPA for Stroke - Potential Benefit, Risk, and Alternatives, which can be viewed at http://aaem.org/education/tpaedtool-AAEM.pdf.
The document is designed to help emergency physicians inform patients and family members about the pros and cons of tPA for stroke in appropriate patients. We hope that you find this [...]

EMTALA

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently clarified two EMTALA issues for its state survey agency directors.
The first memo, dated April 26, 2007, [http://www.cms.hhs.gov/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/PMSR/itemdetail.asp?filterType=none&filterByDID=0&sortByDID=3&sortOrder=descending&itemID=CMS1198795&intNumPerPage=10] states that all hospitals must be able to evaluate persons with emergencies, provide initial treatment, and refer or transfer these individuals when appropriate, regardless of whether the hospital has [...]

Illinois lawmakers back damage awards for grief

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
Illinois lawmakers on Thursday passed a measure that lets jurors consider the grief and sorrow of survivors when deciding payouts in wrongful death lawsuits — a move that promises to reopen political wounds from the state’s medical malpractice battle of two years ago.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, hasn’t said [...]

Cautionary Tale

From the LA Times
In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.
“Thanks a lot, officers,” an emergency room nurse told Los Angeles County police who brought in Rodriguez early May 9 after finding her in front of the Willowbrook hospital yelling for help. “This is her [...]