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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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 1986
Can Medicaid format alter emergency department utilization patterns?
Emergency department utilization by recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in a metropolitan children's hospital was monitored during a 36-month period (July 1982 to June 1985). There were 92,495 emergency department visits recorded in this interval. During 12 months of this period (July 1983 to June 1984) a pilot program (Citicare) for AFDC recipients requiring prior authorization by the primary care physician for emergency department utilization was in effect. ⋯ There was no corresponding decline in the number of patients admitted to the hospital through the emergency department during the monitoring period with 3,545, 3,555, and 3,922 annualized admissions respectively, for the targeted 12-month periods. These data suggest that the format of Medicaid programs can dramatically alter the utilization of emergency department services. Furthermore, the primary impact of this specific program was to decrease inappropriate emergency department use.