Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Although much work has been done evaluating causes for increased demand for emergency department (ED) services, few ways are available to help determine that an individual ED is overcrowded. Four calculations are proposed using real-time data for accurately diagnosing an ED with potential for failing both as a safety net and as a source for quality health care. The bed ratio (BR) accounts for the number of patients in relation to the available treatment spaces. ⋯ A DV of more than 7 should initiate a specific assessment of the individual ratios in order to accurately diagnose the problem and institute action. Based on the values, predetermined processes can be instituted to help remedy the overcrowded situation. Trended over time, the ratios can provide the data needed for better resource assessment, planning, and allocation.
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The authors review the evolution of the emergency medicine literature regarding emergency department (ED) use and access to care over the past 20 years. They discuss the impact of cost containment and the emergence of managed care on prevailing views of ED utilization. ⋯ By the late 1990s, demonstration of the risks of denying emergency care and more sophisticated analyses of actual costs led to reconsideration of initiatives to limit access to ED care and renewed focus on the critical role of the ED as a safety net provider. In recent years, "de facto" denials of emergency care due to long ED waiting times and other adverse consequences of ED crowding have begun to dominate the emergency medicine health services literature.
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To assess the effectiveness of an emergency department (ED)-based strategy to identify and counsel selected patients about the importance of an operational smoke detector in the home and to offer a graded recommendation regarding such a strategy. ⋯ Following the criteria of the graded recommendations used for the parent project. a recommendation cannot be made either for or against an ED-based strategy to counsel patients on the importance of smoke detectors. No studies located in our review directly assessed the effectiveness of such a strategy. Based on the retrospective case series study of the potential opportunity for a home fire safety intervention during an emergency medical services visit and the Safe Block Project study, it may be worthwhile to consider further research on the effectiveness of systems-level/structural interventions, with a targeted focus on strategies that attempt to overcome barriers associated with active interventions.
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To assess the effectiveness of an emergency department (ED)-based strategy to identify and counsel selected patients about the importance of an operational smoke detector in the home and to offer a graded recommendation regarding such a strategy. ⋯ Following the criteria of the graded recommendations used for the parent project. a recommendation cannot be made either for or against an ED-based strategy to counsel patients on the importance of smoke detectors. No studies located in our review directly assessed the effectiveness of such a strategy. Based on the retrospective case series study of the potential opportunity for a home fire safety intervention during an emergency medical services visit and the Safe Block Project study, it may be worthwhile to consider further research on the effectiveness of systems-level/structural interventions, with a targeted focus on strategies that attempt to overcome barriers associated with active interventions.
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Review Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Preventive care in the emergency department: should emergency departments institute a falls prevention program for elder patients? A systematic review.
To perform a systematic review of the emergency medicine literature to assess the appropriateness of an intervention to identify, counsel, and refer emergency department (ED) patients >64 years old who are at high risk for falls. ⋯ Based on one randomized controlled trial demonstrating a significant reduction in the risk of further falls, the burden of suffering caused by falls, and other studies demonstrating the value of interventions to reduce the risk of falling, the authors recommend that EDs conduct research to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical interventions to identify, counsel, and refer ED patients >64 years old who are at high risk for an unintentional fall.