Improving Patient Flow and Decreasing Patient Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department Through Implementation of a Fast Track.

Increased utilization of the emergency department (ED) for low acuity concerns saturates EDs, leading to overcrowding. As the ED becomes crowded, the quality of care threatens patient safety and increases length of stay. To improve the efficiency of evaluation and discharge of low acuity patients in the pediatric ED, a performance improvement project was implemented to develop a Fast Track.

A Quality Improvement Approach to Decreasing Postdischarge Acute Care Reuse Among Children With Asthma.

Objectives: To reduce 7-day acute care reuse among children with asthma after discharge from an academic children's hospital by standardizing the delivery of clinical care and patient education.

Methods: A diverse group of stakeholders from our tertiary care children's hospital and local community agencies used quality improvement methods to implement a series of interventions within inpatient, emergency department (ED), and outpatient settings. These interventions were designed to improve admission, inpatient care, and discharge processes for children hospitalized because of asthma and included a focus on (1) resident education, (2) patient access to medication and asthma education, and (3) gaps in existing asthma clinical care pathways in the ED and ICU.

Consideration of Testicular Torsion in Young Males With Abdominal Pain Is Essential: A Case Review.

Testicular torsion is a surgical emergency and requires prompt recognition and treatment. Health care personnel often forget this differential diagnosis in males who present with abdominal pain as their only complaint. There is a 4- to 6-hour window from the onset of symptoms to the surgical intervention to salvage the testes.

Effect of pharmacist-led task force to reduce opioid prescribing in the emergency department.

Purpose: Results of a study to determine the effect of a pharmacist-led opioid task force on emergency department (ED) opioid use and discharge prescriptions are presented.

Methods: An observational evaluation was conducted at a large tertiary care center (ED volume of 115,000 visits per year) to evaluate selected opioid use outcomes before and after implementation of an ED opioid reduction program by interdisciplinary task force of pharmacists, physicians, and nurses. Volumes of ED opioid orders and discharge prescriptions were evaluated over the entire 25-month study period and during designated 1-month preimplementation and postimplementation periods (January 2017 and January 2018).