Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
This article is drawn from a report created for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Emergency Department (ED) Categorization Task Force and also reflects the proceedings of a breakout session, "Beyond ED Categorization-Matching Networks to Patient Needs," at the 2010 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference, "Beyond Regionalization: Integrated Networks of Emergency Care." The authors describe a brief history of the significant national and state efforts at categorization and suggest reasons why many of these efforts failed to persevere or gain wider implementation. The history of efforts to categorize hospital (and ED) emergency services demonstrates recognition of the potential benefits of categorization, but reflects repeated failures to implement full categorization systems or limited excursions into categorization through licensing of EDs or designation of receiving and referral facilities. An understanding of the history of hospital and ED categorization could better inform current efforts to develop categorization schemes and processes.
-
Patient-centered care is defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as care that is responsive to individual patient needs and values and that guides the treatment decisions. This article is a result of a breakout session of the 2010 Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM) consensus conference and describes the process of developing consensus-based recommendations for providing patient-centered emergency care. ⋯ Four consensus-based recommendations were developed on the following themes: enhancing communication and patient advocacy in emergency departments (EDs), facilitating care coordination after discharge, defining metrics for patient-centered care, and placing the locus of control of medical information into patients' hands. The set of research priorities based on these recommendations was created to promote research and advance knowledge in this dimension of clinical care.
-
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) advanced the concept of "coordinated, regionalized, and accountable emergency care systems" to address significant problems with the delivery of emergency medical care in the United States. Achieving this vision requires the thoughtful implementation of well-aligned, system-level structures and processes that enhance access to emergency care and improve patient outcomes at a sustainable cost. Currently, the delivery of emergency medical care is supported by numerous administrative systems, including economic; reimbursement; legal and regulatory structures; licensure, credentialing, and accreditation processes; medicolegal systems; and quality reporting mechanisms. ⋯ This article identifies significant administrative challenges to integrating networks of emergency care in four specific areas: reimbursement, medical-legal, quality reporting mechanisms, and regulatory aspects. The authors propose a research agenda for indentifying optimal approaches that support consistent access to quality emergency care with improved outcomes for patients, at a sustainable cost. Researching administrative challenges will involve careful examination of the numerous natural experiments in the recent past and will be crucial to understand the impact as we embark on a new era of health reform.
-
since California lacks a statewide trauma system, there are no uniform interfacility pediatric trauma transfer guidelines across local emergency medical services (EMS) agencies in California. This may result in delays in obtaining optimal care for injured children. ⋯ from the perspective an adult Level I trauma center with a certified pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), delays in definitive pediatric trauma care appear to be present secondary to initial transport to nontrauma community hospitals within close proximity of a trauma hospital, long transfer distances to accepting facilities, and lack of capacity at the study center. Given the absence of uniform trauma triage and transfer guidelines across state EMS systems, there appears to be a role for quality monitoring and improvement of the current interfacility pediatric trauma transfer system, including defined triage, transfer, and data collection protocols.