Here ’s how and why patients lose in our current system

It would never have gone down this way ten years ago when length of stay was all the buzz. The CT scan would have been done in the emergency department, and the patient would either have been discharged or admitted for a quick observation stay. Bing, bang, boom. One, two, three. Instead, the CT was pushed until morning. A resident saw the patient at midnight and then not a single practitioner note in the EMR for nearly eighteen hours. The hospitalist eventually deferred on the scan and called for a consult, which was scheduled for the next day because of the late hour. After a busy day of surgery, the specialist showed up at 8 p.m. and OK’d the patient for discharge without any further studies. But it was almost midnight, better to wait until the next day. The social worker, in meetings all morning, didn’t get the paperwork out to the nursing home until mid afternoon. The nursing home accepted the patient but only if delayed once more night due to poor staffing. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Physician Hospital Source Type: blogs