Articles: hospital-emergency-service.
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Sources of ionizing radiation are being used with increasing frequency in a wide spectrum of applications in society. These uses are accompanied by the possible occurrence of accidents resulting in persons exposed to radiation and contaminated with radioactivity. ⋯ Planning should include identification of a radiation emergency area within the hospital, delineation of a radiation emergency response team of individuals knowledgeable about radiation and radioactivity, and development of protocols for the medical care and decontamination of patients involved in radiation accidents. Various agencies, including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, have stressed the need for preparation and periodic testing of radiation emergency response plans for hospitals.
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We studied all admissions to the 11 acute care hospitals of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (April 1983-September 1984) matching emergency room (ER) admitted diagnostic related group (DRG) subgroups in each hospital with at least five non-ER admitted patients (N = 222,961). Mean cost per ER patient ($8,385) was greater than non-ER mean cost per patient ($4,386) for Medicare and non-Medicare. Our data suggest that public hospitals with a high proportion of ER admissions may be at a financial disadvantage under DRG reimbursement.