Tag: er
The Decline and Fall of Triage in the ER
April 13th, 2012by: Dr. Vipul Kella
The national trend toward overcrowding in emergency rooms is having an interesting effect on a process that was conceived to handle a large number of injured patients: triage. One might expect that as more and more patients flow into the ER, the process of triage would become even more central to the smooth flow and […]
read articlePosted in Quality Efficiency Utilization
Medicaid Rule for Emergency Departments Used a Hammer to Tighten a Screw
April 4th, 2012by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
There are a thousand places to look for cost savings in healthcare, but this week in Washington State officials grappled with one of the most visible of those: emergency care. Thankfully, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has suspended implementation of a rule that would have denied emergency rooms payment from Medicaid if the patient was diagnosed […]
read articlePosted in Future of Healthcare
Leadership in the ED: Being a Floor General for Your Team
March 20th, 2012by: Dr. Vipul Kella
In sports, the most successful athletes are not necessarily those that have had the best individual statistics, but are those that have managed to make their teammates better around them: Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, or to use a hot new name – Jeremy Lin. These athletes epitomize selfless leadership on the court. While their own […]
read articlePosted in Life in the ER
We Want Our Healthcare Like We Want our Fast Food
February 24th, 2012by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
With due respect to those patient souls among us, America is, in general, an impatient nation. That includes how we think about our healthcare. This is why I read with some interest, and some amusement, stories like “A real ‘doc fix,’” published this week in the New York Times. Basically it says we need to […]
read articlePosted in Quality Efficiency Utilization
After 20 Years in Emergency Medicine, The Worries and Tools I Take to a New ER
January 24th, 2012by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
When I completed my training nearly 20 years ago, I always wondered what type of emergency department I would work in. Two decades later I can say I’ve worked in a lot of different emergency departments, seven of them to be specific. They range from bustling suburban hospitals to small rural facilities to busy trauma […]
read articlePosted in Life in the ER, Quality Efficiency Utilization
Doctors are Ready to Cut Costs – But Are Patients?
November 28th, 2011by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
USA Today this week published another story on the continuing theme of innovative health systems and physician leaders who are finding big cost savings while providing better patient care. I know most if not all physicians are interested in providing more cost-effective care, but a recent encounter in the ER led me to wonder whether […]
read articlePosted in Future of Healthcare, Life in the ER
Does Emergency Medicine Really Matter?
November 15th, 2011by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
I’m always curious when people ask what I do and I say I work in an ER: what exactly do they imagine I do there? They may picture us treating sniffles, ankle sprains, and the uninsured. At least, that’s what some in media and politics would have them imagine. You want to know what I […]
read articlePosted in Future of Healthcare, Life in the ER
Child, Scalp, Laceration, Vacation – When the Patient is Your Son
August 17th, 2011by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
If there were four words I was hoping to combine on our family vacation this past week, it is safe to assume they would not be the four listed above. My 19 month-old son, Chance (aptly named), decided to take a header off a kitchen chair and struck the back of his head while we […]
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Emergency Medicine – Whom Do We Serve?
March 30th, 2011by: Dr. Angelo Falcone
I give a talk to new employees regarding service in emergency medicine. One of the questions I pose is whom do we serve when we practice emergency medicine? Seems like a simple question. We serve patients that come to the ER desiring care. At the most basic level that is indeed what we do. Like […]
read articlePosted in Leadership, Life in the ER
Body Language and Caring for Our Patients
September 7th, 2010by: Dr. David Klein
The next patient was a 25 year old female in room 2. The nurse’s note read, “severe abdominal pain – rates it a 10 out of 10.” Like any good emergency medicine physician, I was already considering the differential diagnosis prior to entering the room. Severe pain in a young female could be an ectopic, […]
read articlePosted in Life in the ER, Patient Satisfaction