Medical-Admissions Test to Look More Broadly at Who Will Be a Good Doctor

February 16, 2012

Hospitals Ranked for Emergency Medicine Quality

Last Updated: February 22, 2012.

Report found patients admitted through the best ERs had significantly lower death rates.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) — Patients admitted to the top hospitals for emergency medicine in the United States have a nearly 42 percent lower death rate than those admitted to other hospitals in the nation, according to a new report.

If all hospitals performed at the same level as the top-ranked hospitals, nearly 171,000 more people in the United States might have survived their emergency hospitalization between 2008 and 2010, according to HealthGrades, an independent provider of consumer information about doctors and hospitals. Read more

Discharged ER patients often miss instructions

CBC News

Posted: Jan 24, 2012 2:36 PM ET

Emergency department communication study

People who are discharged from emergency departments are often unable to tell what symptoms should raise alarms and make them return to the hospital, a review suggests.

Dr. Stephen Porter, head of emergency medicine at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, led a review of more than 50 studies on the subject. The papers examined the content, delivery and comprehension of discharge instructions for both adults and children.

In the hectic and distracting environment of an emergency department, key instructions to patients can be lost. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

It’s important for doctors and nurses to communicate effectively with patients to deliver the best care. But in the hectic and distracting environment of an emergency department, those key instructions can be lost.

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Emergency department volume rises as office visits fall

The economy is blamed for driving patients to the ED and away from doctors’ offices. Visits went up a record 10% from 2008 to 2009.

By Emily Berry, amednews staff. Posted Jan. 16, 2012.

As the recession hit the U.S. in 2008 and 2009, more Americans, both uninsured and those with private health coverage, sought care in hospital emergency departments.

The most recent available estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a steep increase in visits to emergency departments and a rise in the percentage of emergency patients who were uninsured.

• In 2009, emergency department visits went up to 136 million from less than 124 million in 2008. That was nearly a 10% increase, the steepest single-year upsurge on record.
• Those 136 million visits worked out to 45.1 visits per 100 people, up from 41.4 per 100 in 2008 and 39.4 in 2007.
• Of the 136 million visits in 2009, 19% were uninsured patients and 39% were privately insured patients, compared with 15.4% and 41.9%, respectively, in 2008.
• In a poll by the American College of Emergency Physicians in March 2011, 80% of respondents said patient volume had increased “somewhat” or “significantly” during the previous year.

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