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Medical Malpractice Insights: Excellent documentation supports standard of care and avoids lawsuit

EMDocs

The goal of MMI-LFL is to improve patient safety, educate physicians and reduce the cost and stress of medical malpractice lawsuits. Chuck Pilcher, MD, FACEP Editor, Medical Malpractice Insights Editor, Med Mal Insights Excellent documentation supports standard of care, avoids lawsuit Vertebral artery CVA leaves patient disabled.

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Medical Malpractice Insights: The challenge of suicide evaluation in the ED

EMDocs

The goal of MMI-LFL is to improve patient safety, educate physicians and reduce the cost and stress of medical malpractice lawsuits. 0321 : During triage one of the officers informs the nurse of the patient’s detailed suicide plan. There is no documented handoff to the on-coming emergency physician (EP) who assumes care.

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Medical Malpractice Insights: Brain Abscess

EMDocs

The goal of MMI-LFL is to improve patient safety, educate physicians and reduce the cost and stress of medical malpractice lawsuits. Exam documents that he is alert and oriented but “tired appearing” and “not appearing post-ictal.” Defense : The EP did address the seizure when he documented “not post-ictal.”

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Medical Malpractice Insights: “Sign right here and you’re good to go”

EMDocs

The goal of MMI-LFL is to improve patient safety, educate physicians and reduce the cost and stress of medical malpractice lawsuits. Doctors and nurses rarely use the written medication instructions in the EHR, but we always verbally warn every patient about watching for diarrhea when an antibiotic is prescribed.

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Improving Care for Patients with a Non-English Language Preference (NELP)

EMDocs

13 Interventions may include: Ascertaining a patient’s preferred language early in the clinical encounter (during registration, for instance), and clearly documenting this preference in a place that is visible to all providers. Educating patients on their rights. Utilizing certified interpreters and documenting their use.

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Medical Malpractice Insights: Radiology over-reads – Who’s responsible?

EMDocs

The goal of MMI-LFL is to improve patient safety, educate physicians and reduce the cost and stress of medical malpractice lawsuits. The radiologist finds significant cardiomegaly and sends a report to both the ED and the patient’s PCP. It wasn’t, so you weren’t called, nor did the doc need to document anything.

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Content Validation of an Emergency Department Skin Risk Assessment Instrument

AENJ: Current Issue

Pressure injuries (PIs) are an important quality and patient safety metric for health care organizations. A team at a Level 1 trauma center recognized the need for ED-friendly documentation and a validated ED skin risk assessment instrument. PI monitoring and treatment are often overlooked in the emergency department (ED).