Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Boarding admitted patients in emergency department (ED) treatment beds has been recognized as a major cause of ED crowding and ambulance diversions. When process delays impede the transfer of admitted patients from the ED to inpatient units, the department's capacity to accept new arrivals and to generate revenue from additional patient services is restricted. The objective of this study was to determine the amount of functional ED treatment capacity that was used to board inpatients during 12 months of operations at a community hospital and to estimate the value of that lost treatment capacity. ⋯ Significantly higher operational revenues could be generated by reducing output delays that restrict optimal utilization of existing ED treatment capacity.
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Rapid intravenous (IV) rehydration in the emergency department (ED) is required for certain children with acute gastroenteritis (AGE). ⋯ Administration of larger amounts of IV dextrose is associated with reduced return visits requiring admission in children with gastroenteritis and dehydration.
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Community consultation is a required element of research studies that use a waiver of or exception from informed consent. Its intent is to provide an additional patient safeguard in emergency research circumstances when prospective informed consent is not possible. ⋯ This article presents a brief overview of the sparse literature available on the process of community consultation since the inception of the current emergency research regulations. To determine if the process is meeting its goals, more research will be required.