Articles: emergency-services.
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Discharge planning update · Jul 1991
The ER social worker: cost-effective, crisis-oriented discharge planning--and more.
The emergency room social worker exemplifies, in a crisis-oriented context, the ability of social workers to make a difference, in real terms, in situations of patient and family need--physical, environmental, and emotional. Our hospital has come to see the opportunity for community care and support, coupled nicely with the ability to decrease burdensome and costly social admissions and lessen time patients spend waiting in the ER. Patients and their families are well served in our ER. ⋯ ER social workers have also served as clinical supervisors for graduate social work students in field placements. The ER social worker serves as a valued extension in our discharge planning. We recommend this role for your consideration.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 1991
Complaints and compliments in the pediatric emergency department.
We conducted an analysis of all communications received from patients or their families by the director of a pediatric emergency department over a three-year period, during which approximately 150,000 visits occurred. Communications were characterized as complaint or compliment and subclassified by type: waiting time, staff attitude, quality of medical care, and billing. ⋯ The problems that we identified might be addressed by providing families improved access to non-emergency department care sources, education regarding the role of an emergency department, and better explanation of billing procedures during the registration process. Additionally, our findings serve as a reminder that many parents appreciate the care given to their children, particularly for life-threatening emergencies.
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To examine the variability and define the normal ranges of orthostatic vital signs in an emergency department population. ⋯ The data from this study indicate that there is a wider than expected variation in orthostatic vital signs among presumed euvolemic ED patients.