Here are recent news items that address trends within the Acute Care Continuum in a colorful and striking manner. One makes the claim that, aside from the patient, the entity most in need of emergency care is the ED itself and calls attention to four solutions. The other is a documentary film about an Emergency Department that also describes larger issues effecting the system.

This article in HealthLeaders points to a 2007 report by the Institute of Medicine that calls the ED a “growing national crisis”. Author Joe Cantlupe touches on many subjects previously addressed in this blog, such as the importance of Urgent Care Clinics, while highlighting four areas of opportunity for future success: taking pressure off the ED, EMR in the ED, frequent fliers, and collaboration with competitors.

Excessive pressure on the ED, in particular, has long been recognized as a major barrier to care and led to the creation of Rapid Medical Evaluation®(RME). It is clear in today’s environment that optimizing the operational efficiency of the ED is a necessary and critical component in ensuring that the best possible care is provided to the greatest number of patients; and RME is one of the tools that can be used to meet the ED’s needs.

The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room is a documentary film that was shown at the San Francisco International Film Festival. It features Oakland’s Highland ER and highlights the need for change in the larger healthcare system. It specifically focuses on making sure that patients have access to primary and urgent care and are not so reliant on the ED for their healthcare needs.

Webinar on Quick Emergency Disposition (QED)

A webinar called Improving Throughput Time with Quick Emergency Disposition will be held on June 19. Sign up here for this event taking place from 2:30PM – 3:00PM PDT.

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