August 24, 2008
Las Vegas Sun
Patient’s paperwork came first
Witnesses say they were shocked; hospital’s experts say staff did what they could.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/24/patients-paperwork-came-first/ |
August 21, 2008
Morning Edition, NPR
In The ER, Unhealthy Premium On Insurance Data
The classic image of the emergency room is ingrained in our minds: A critically ill patient is rushed in and a medical team quickly surrounds the gurney. Through heroic measures, the patient is snatched from the throes of death. It does happen that way. But health economist Philip Musgrove encountered something quite different one afternoon. He explains in this excerpt from an essay in the journal Health Affairs.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93809839 |
August 20, 2008
San Diego Union Tribune
Probe finds shortcomings at Scripps Mercy facilities
Scripps Mercy Hospital could lose all government payments after a federal investigation into the death of one patient revealed extensive pharmacy delays, nursing shortages and management failures at its Chula Vista and Hillcrest campuses.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080820-9999-1n20scripps.html |
August 20, 2008
El Paso Times
Nurse honored for trauma prevention
A registered nurse who spearheaded Thomason Hospital's first trauma prevention program aimed at youths received the prestigious Catalyst of the Decade Award from the Texas Statewide Shattered Dreams Coalition and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10249890?source=most_emailed |
August 20, 2008
U.S. News & World Report
Older Patients Less Likely to Be Taken to Trauma Centers
Authors of new study say aim is to generate awareness of the problem. The finding was based on a review of a decade's worth of Maryland's statewide emergency medical services (EMS) records. And it suggests that the difference in care first comes into play as patients reach age 50 and worsens again at age 70.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/08/18/older-patients-less-likely-to-be-taken-to-trauma.html |
August 19, 2008
Central Valley Business Times - Stockton, CA
Why emergency rooms are in gridlock
Stanislaus, Fresno, and San Joaquin counties in the Central Valley have the highest emergency room visits per capita of any urban counties in California, according to a report released Tuesday evening by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=9612 |
August 19, 2008
The Sacramento Bee
Man dies as he awaits care at hospital ER
A Bay Area man collapsed in the waiting area of Mercy San Juan's emergency room on Friday, and conflicting reports swirled on Monday about the circumstances of his death.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1167483.html |
August 19, 2008
The Salt Lake Tribune
'Never events': Utah hospitals saw nearly 60 serious errors in 2007
Last December, a man entered Uintah Basin Medical Center's emergency room feeling weak, tired and out of breath. He was severely anemic and needed a blood transfusion. Staff started a unit of A+ blood at noon. Seven hours later the man, whose blood type was O+, was dead. He had been given blood meant for another patient with a similar sounding name.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10238367 |
August 18, 2008
Los Angeles Times
Hospitals fined for violations
Eighteen California hospitals have been fined by the state for violating laws regarding quality care for patients. Most of the 18 hospitals are in Southern California.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hospitals19-2008aug19,0,7496447.story |
August 18, 2008
The Business Journal of Milwaukee
ER tracking system already saving money
Five months into a pilot program that allows competing health care systems to share patient information, the process is on track to save Milwaukee-area hospitals thousands of dollars per year.
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/08/18/story13.html?f=et163&b=1219032000^1685803&ana=e_vert |
August 18, 2008
Business Courier of Cincinnati
New Web system to help hospitals during disasters
Ohio hospitals are developing tools to allow them to keep track of available beds, and of the whereabouts of patients, when disasters hit.
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/08/18/story7.html?f=et163&b=1219032000^1684309&ana=e_vert |
August 17, 2008
Gary Post Tribune - Gary, IN
State eyes roles of Pinnacle, Methodist
The Indiana State Department of Health is investigating the unexpected patient death of Donna Dunham. The state Health Department is looking into the roles of Pinnacle Hospital in Crown Point and Methodist Hospitals Southlake in Merrillville relating to the 78-year-old Lowell real estate agent’s death after a June 12 back surgery at Pinnacle. That state agency also investigates violations of a federal law prohibiting “patient dumping.”
http://www.post-trib.com/news/1112281,hospdeath818.article |
August 16, 2008
West Central Tribune - Willmar,MN
Study takes closer look at boating-related injuries
When Hennepin County Medical Center began collecting data in 2001 on boating-related injuries, officials figured alcohol would be high on the list of contributing factors. But as the information accumulated, there were some surprises.
http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=40460§ion=homepage&CFID=72469106&CFTOKEN=60154639&jsessionid=88309f528d8c3e67756e |
August 16, 2008
Fresno Bee
It takes a Bridge
A special pilot program providing routine care to high-risk, frequent ER users is freeing up resources, unburdening harried doctors and saving hospitals a pretty penny along the way.
http://www.fresnobee.com/170/story/802873.html |
August 15, 2008
NurseZone.com
ER Smart Card Speeds Triage Time
Patients move through triage at Wellington Regional Medical Center much more quickly these days, thanks to the ER Smart Card the Florida hospital has been distributing to its patients and residents in the community.
http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/devices-and-technology.aspx?ID=18208&Tab=1 |
August 15, 2008
La Vista Sun - Papillion, NE
Hospitals' spies give client care a checkup
Wearing slacks and dress shirts, they blended in with the other people waiting near the main admitting desk at the Nebraska Medical Center. But they weren't patients or family. They were "secret shoppers'' -- employees and managers from other departments covertly watching how admission staff dealt with patients.
http://www.lavistasun.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20019131&BRD=2712&PAG=461&dept_id=556239&rfi=6 |
August 13, 2008
Online Athens - Athens, GA
St. Mary's, ARMC say ER waits shorter in Athens
Emergency room patients in Athens don't wait as long to see a doctor as others throughout the country who wait an average of almost an hour, according to a recently released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. The average wait time across the country, the study says, has grown in the past decade from 38 minutes to almost an hour because of supply-and-demand problems - there are not enough emergency rooms to accommodate the growing number of patients who need care.
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/081308/news_2008081300437.shtml |
August 13, 2008
Boston Herald
MGH center brings science to nursing
Nurses with doctorates used to become nursing school professors, but now many are being drawn to research positions within hospitals. Nurse research is a growing field in clinical settings and Massachusetts General Hospital has even established a center dedicated to it.
http://news.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/healthcare/view.bg?articleid=1112806&format=&page=2&listingType=jfmedical#articleFull |
August 12, 2008
Fairfield Weekly - Norwalk, CT
Crisis in the ER
How the health insurance disaster is swamping the state's emergency rooms.
http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/article.cfm?aid=9154 |
August 11, 2008
San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE
Wife's injury a little too urgent for urgent care
If your stomach is settled, picture this: I'm driving with a cell phone shrugged into one ear, an open address book on my lap, and my wife in the passenger seat with her left leg sticking straight up to the car's roof.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/jenkins/20080811-9999-1m11jenkins.html |
August 11, 2008
Times Herald-Record - Middletown, NY
Livingston Manor mom blasts hospital
Two-year-old Kassandra McIntosh was sleepy and listless for nine hours before her mother took her to Catskill Regional Medical Center’s emergency room July 21. Kassandra’s mother, Samantha Damms, believed her daughter’s symptoms to be the signs of a malfunction of a shunt in her daughter’s brain. But she said the hospital told her that because the child was talking, there was no malfunction, and that other people needed to be seen first.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080811/BIZ/80810012 |
August 11, 2008
Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL
Hospital followed law on blood draw
In the past two weeks, there has been a lot written about Rockford Memorial Hospital and the recent events surrounding the blood alcohol testing of Wesley Hanson in our Emergency Department on the morning of July 28.
http://www.rrstar.com/opinions/columnists/x33718824/Hospital-followed-law-on-blood-draw |
August 10, 2008
The Daily Advertiser - Lafayette, LA
Mental Health Emergency Room Extension creates model
This emergency room is a new model being implemented statewide in public hospitals not only to ease congestion in overcrowded emergency rooms, but to respond to the overwhelming population of behavioral health patients who end up in emergency departments with crises. The model moves patients out of the emergency room to designated stabilization units where the patient is an a more controlled and quiet environment.
http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080810/NEWS01/808100309/1002 |
August 8, 2008
Worcester Telegram - Worcester,MA
Emergency room rights bill for mentally ill gets lost in crush
A bill to ensure the rights in emergency rooms of people with psychiatric histories went into the House Committee on Bills in the Third Reading and did not emerge before the end of formal legislative sessions July 31.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20080808/NEWS/808080354/1003/NEWS03 |
August 8, 2008
TheStreet.com
Don't Believe the Emergency-Room Laments
The latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control 2006 NHAMC Survey of Emergency Departments have been released. They highlight massive reductions in the numbers of emergency rooms, huge rises in attendance and increased waiting times. But, a look under the hood shows that it's not all bad news.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10432526/2/dont-believe-the-emergency-room-laments.html |
August 6, 2008
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
GRADY HOSPITAL -- No room for new mental patients
For the first time in its 116-year history, Grady Memorial Hospital is issuing alerts to the Atlanta medical community that it can't take any more mentally ill patients. And yet the patients come.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/08/06/grady_mental_health_patients.html |
August 6, 2008
Des Moines Register
Elbert: Project adds space to Iowa's busiest ER
Mercy Medical Center will begin treating patients from a new $10 million emergency department in Des Moines. The renovation is one of a series of building projects by the metro area's two major hospital networks that will take more than a half-dozen years and more than $400 million to finish
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080806/BUSINESS/808060354/1029 |
August 6, 2008
The Associated Press
Average ER waiting time nears 1 hour, CDC says
The average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade, according to new federal statistics.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilSq6tBqDRxCxXyajBdg-ZG0ekbAD92CRB200 |
August 4, 2008
Washington Post
OTC Cold Medicines Sending Children to Emergency Rooms
A significant percentage of small children going to emergency rooms with an "apparent life-threatening event" had ingested over-the-counter cold and cough medicines, researchers report, despite recent U.S. recommendations that these products not be used in children under 2.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080400629.html |
July 31, 2008
Stoneham Sun - Beverly, MA
Debate continues on contentious nurse-staffing bill: Battle between unions pits nurses against each other
Two opposing and hotly contested nurse-staffing bills are being fought for — and against —on Beacon Hill. If passed into law, either bill would significantly affect the way hospitals across the state do business, but only one would allow the state to tell hospitals how to do business.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/stoneham/news/lifestyle/health/x390641676/Debate-continues-on-contentious-nurse-staffing-bill-Battle-between-unions-pits-nurses-against-each-other |
July 30, 2008
The Northwest Florida Daily News - Fort Walton Beach, FL
In FWB, hospital security lacking
Hospital administrator Wayne Campbell historically has opposed beefing up emergency room security at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, according to a doctor who worked in its ER. That opposition apparently hasn't changed, despite an average of 26 mental patient escapes each year since 2005 and 21 thus far this year.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/security_9802___article.html/campbell_walton.html |
July 28, 2008
Medscape.com
Public Perceptions of Nursing Careers: The Influence of the Media and Nursing Shortages
The public's long-standing esteem for registered nurses (RNs) is well documented in public opinion polls. The high public regard for nurses, however, has not necessarily translated into an adequate supply of individuals who are willing to be nurses. The expected future demand for nurse labor challenges us to look more closely at the public's perceptions of nursing and nursing careers, and consider how they are shaped by personal experience, media messages, and socio-demographic factors.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/576950?src=mp&spon=24&uac=98117FY |
July 28, 2008
UCSF News Office - San Francisco, CA
News Release
UCSF study shows sharp national rise in skin infections, MRSA suspected
A national analysis of physician office and emergency department records shows that the types of skin infections caused by community-acquired MRSA doubled in the eight-year study period, with the highest rates seen among children and in urban emergency rooms.
http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200807281/ |
July 28, 2008
Nurse.com
Ed Nurses Set The Stage For Alcohol Screening
People who drink and end up in the ED with a preventable injury have some explaining to do. To prevent alcohol-related ED visits, 360 ED nurses from across the country began using a Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) procedure in their EDs in April. SBIRT was designed by the Emergency Nurses Association's Prevention Injury Institute to motivate patients who exhibit unhealthy drinking behaviors to cut back, quit drinking, or accept a referral for further assessment and treatment.
http://include.nurse.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080728/NATIONAL02/107280100/-1/frontpage |
July 27, 2008
Chambersburg Public Opinion - Chambersburg, PA
More patients mean longer lines in emergency room
When Cynthia Gee of Shippensburg went to the emergency room at Chambersburg Hospital last week with stroke-like symptoms, the last thing she wanted to do was wait. She was seen by a triage nurse within five minutes, but she had to wait another 20 minutes for a bed to open in the emergency room. Once she was taken to a room, nurses checked in on her, and she was given a CT scan, but she said from the time she entered the ER until the time she saw a physician, two hours had passed.
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_10009636 |
July 26, 2008
Jackson Clarion Ledger - Jackson, MS
Miss. returns good will to flood victims
Aid heading for Midwest flood victims
In a reversal of a nearly three-year trend, a truck loaded with disaster supplies left D'Iberville on Wednesday on its way to provide relief for disaster victims elsewhere. It felt good to provide a helping hand to someone else for a change, she said.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080726/NEWS/807260349/1001/news |
July 26, 2008
Boston Herald
Hospital ads hit nurse bill
Western Massachusetts hospitals are escalating the airwave wars over a legislative proposal to mandate minimum nurse staffing levels at hospitals across the state.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1109190 |
