Elimination of Emergency Department Ambulance Divert during the COVID-19 Pandemic Was Not Associated with an Increase in the Average Number of Ambulance Arrivals per Day.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, ambulance divert in our EMS system reached critical levels. We hypothesized that eliminating ambulance divert would not be associated with an increase in the average number of daily ambulance arrivals. Our study objective was to quantify the EMS and emergency department (ED) effects of eliminating ambulance divert during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elimination of Routine Screening Laboratory Tests for Psychiatric Admission: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Objective: Research has shown that routine screening laboratory tests for patients with mental health symptoms admitted to psychiatry units find little unexpected clinical abnormalities. This study examined the effects on cost of care and patient safety measures of a hospital change in policy in which such routine tests were no longer required.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from all patients admitted from the emergency department (ED) to inpatient psychiatry at a tertiary care hospital 4 months before and 4 months after the policy change.

Demographic, Operational, and Healthcare Utilization Factors Associated with Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction.

Introduction: The primary aim of this study was to determine which objectively-measured patient demographics, emergency department (ED) operational characteristics, and healthcare utilization frequencies (care factors) were associated with patient satisfaction ratings obtained from phone surveys conducted by a third-party vendor for patients discharged from our ED.

Methods: This is a retrospective, observational analysis of data obtained between September 2011 and August 2012 from all English- and Spanish-speaking patients discharged from our ED who were contacted by a third-party patient satisfaction vendor to complete a standardized nine-item telephone survey by a trained phone surveyor. We linked data from completed surveys to the patient's electronic medical record to abstract additional demographic, ED operational, and healthcare utilization data.

Kinetic enolate formation by lithium arylamide: effects of basicity on selectivity.

Five ketones R1COCH2R2 (1a-e) were enolized in tetrahydrofuran solvent employing lithium arylamides with different electron-withdrawing and -donating substituents on the phenyl ring (4a-e). Enolate selectivity is unaffected by a moderate electron-releasing or -withdrawing group, but significantly enhanced by strong electron-withdrawing substituents to yield predominantly Z-enolate. Outstanding selectivity was achieved with lithium trichloroanilide (5) and lithium diphenylamide (6).