Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Improving physician compliance with evidence-based guidelines is challenging. The authors wanted to determine if weekly e-mail reminders to emergency department (ED) staff increase compliance with Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) community-acquired pneumonia quality measures. ⋯ Weekly e-mail reminders listing performance on antibiotic administration recommendations are associated with increased compliance with a clinical guideline.
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The authors assessed the effect of emergency department (ED) crowding on the nontreatment and delay in treatment for analgesia in patients who had acute abdominal pain. ⋯ Emergency department crowding is associated with delays in analgesic treatment from the time of triage in patients presenting with acute abdominal pain.
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Clinical scoring systems attempt to improve the diagnostic accuracy of pediatric appendicitis. The Pediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) was the first score created specifically for children and showed excellent performance in the derivation study when administered by pediatric surgeons. The objective was to validate the score in a nonreferred population by emergency physicians (EPs). ⋯ The PAS is a useful tool in the evaluation of children with possible appendicitis. Scores of
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Emergency departments (EDs) are traditionally designed to provide rapid evaluation and stabilization and are neither staffed nor equipped to provide prolonged care. Longer ED length of stay (LOS) may compromise quality of care and contribute to delays in the emergency evaluation of other patients. ⋯ Emergency department LOS in the United States is increasing, especially for critically ill patients for whom time-sensitive interventions are most important. The disparity of longer ED LOS for African Americans and Hispanics is not improving.