Brutal New AEM Report
By Staff Reporters
Hospital emergency rooms are not safely designed or managed, and improvements in working conditions are needed, according to a new study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine [AEM].
AHRQ
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], December 9, 2008, the study surveyed 3,562 emergency medicine clinicians in 65 hospitals to examine their perceptions about their emergency department’s safety.
Incriminating Findings
The study found that:
- Nearly two-thirds of emergency departments reported insufficient space for patient care.
- One third said the number of patients consistently exceeded ER capacity for safe care.
- Forty percent reported insufficient physician staffing to handle busy period patient loads.
- Two-thirds reported insufficient nursing staff to handle patient loads during busy periods.
- Only a third reported frequent patient waiting-room monitoring.
Suggestions
The researchers recommend the following improvements:
- Increase or redesign emergency department space.
- Increase staffing during periods of high demand.
- Improve information sharing between clinicians by reworking team processes.
- Improve patient transitions between ER and inpatient areas of the hospital.
- Provide more computer workstations and access to eHRs.
Assessment
Recently, there has been a plethora of corroborating reports.
Conclusion
And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Do you have any incidents to share?
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Filed under: Breaking News, Practice Management, Quality Initiatives, Research & Development, Risk Management Tagged: | emergency departments, emergency rooms
ER BPO,
Did you know that Thomas Jefferson Regional Medical Center has begun full operation of Jefferson Regional Quick Care, the hospital’s answer to the walk-in clinics that have proliferated in the region?
According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, on February 9, 2009, the clinic is located within the hospital’s emergency department and was designed to treat non-life threatening problems such as broken bones, cuts, and viruses, according to the hospital.
More serious problems, including chest pain and trouble breathing, can be immediately referred to emergency medicine doctors. Patients entering the emergency department are interviewed briefly, and then referred to either the Quick Care center or the existing emergency room. The center is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week
Of course, this is a concept championed by the Medical Executive-Post, since inception. And one first conceived by Publisher-in-Chief Dr. David Edward Marcinko, decades ago while working in the emergency room admissions department of the Pennsylvania Hospital during his medical school years; ER Business Process Organization [ER-BPO].
Ann Miller; RN, MHA
Unsafe … And now Hospitals demand upfront payments from ER patients?
In an effort to process collections and reduce overcrowding, many hospitals are now requiring upfront payments from patients visiting emergency room visits with serious medical needs, reports Kaiser Health News.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/February/19/Hospitals-Demand-Payment-Upfront-From-ER-Patients.aspx?utm_source=khn&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=widget
Doris