Evaluating implementation of a rapid response team: considering alternative outcome measures.

Objective: Determine the prolonged effect of rapid response team (RRT) implementation on failure to rescue (FTR).

Design: Longitudinal study of institutional performance with control charts and Bayesian change point (BCP) analysis.

Setting: Two academic hospitals in Midwest, USA.

Honouring patient's resuscitation wishes: a multiphased effort to improve identification and documentation.

Background: Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders are intended to safeguard patients' autonomy and prevent unwanted resuscitative care. However, DNR orders may be miscommunicated between health care providers, leading to errors honoring patient wishes during cardiac arrest events. This project focused on improving accuracy of DNR ordering processes for an academic, tertiary care hospital.

Tools for evaluating team performance in simulation-based training.

Teamwork training constitutes one of the core approaches for moving healthcare systems toward increased levels of quality and safety, and simulation provides a powerful method of delivering this training, especially for face-paced and dynamic specialty areas such as Emergency Medicine. Team performance measurement and evaluation plays an integral role in ensuring that simulation-based training for teams (SBTT) is systematic and effective. However, this component of SBTT systems is overlooked frequently.

A prospective, randomized trial of an emergency department observation unit for acute onset atrial fibrillation.

Study Objective: An emergency department (ED) observation unit protocol for the management of acute onset atrial fibrillation is compared with routine hospital admission and management.

Methods: Adult patients presenting to the ED with atrial fibrillation of less than 48 hours' duration without hemodynamic instability or other comorbid conditions requiring hospitalization were enrolled. Participants were randomized to either ED observation unit care or routine inpatient care.

Quitline referral vs. self-help manual for tobacco use cessation in the Emergency Department: a feasibility study.

Background: Tobacco use counseling interventions delivered in the primary care setting are efficacious, but limited evidence exists regarding their feasibility or efficacy in the Emergency Department (ED). ED randomized controlled trials evaluating referral for outpatient tobacco use counseling have not had a single subject in the intervention groups attend scheduled clinic appointments. Telephone counseling potentially affords the opportunity to provide this population with individual counseling more conveniently than traditional clinic counseling.