Emergency rooms and docs brace themselves for newly insured
HealthLeaders Media
Though new health reform laws won't take effect for at least three months and most provisions won't come into play until six months to four years, hospital emergency rooms and physicians are bracing for an onslaught almost immediately. "People will start coming because they think they have health coverage" when they don't or reform provisions that apply to them don't kick in for quite some time, says Angela F. Gardner MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.More

Last chance to participate in 2010 Compensation Survey
ACEP
Emergency physicians who participate in the Emergency Medicine Salary Survey will receive the results at no charge. The survey closes March 31 and is conducted by Daniel Stern and Associates.More

Study tries to spur emergency room organ donation
Pittsburgh Live
When someone dies in an emergency room, his or her organs almost never are transplanted, a problem that doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are working to overcome. Doctors must declare the person dead, wait an appropriate amount of time to confirm the death and only then can start determining whether the person agreed to be an organ donor. At best, the process of starting to save the organs takes at least 10 to 15 minutes, and often much longer, said Dr. Clifton Callaway, UPMC's vice chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine.More

Dual-energy CT accurately diagnoses gout in acute, emergency settings
Medical News Today
A medical imaging technique called dual-energy computed tomography (CT) is an effective and reliable way to diagnose gout in the acute, emergency setting, according to a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
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ER x-rays for hip fracture often miss or mislead
MedPage Today
Emergency room x-rays often miss the mark in diagnosing suspected hip and pelvic fractures, according to a retrospective review of patient records. MRI detected fractures in 14 percent of patients who had normal radiographs, while in another 12 percent of cases, MRI showed no fractures where x-rays had suggested breaks.More

When is the worst time to go to the hospital?
The New York Times
During staff cutbacks, hiring freezes and every July when a new class of interns hits the wards, hospital workers everywhere ask themselves one question: "When is the worst time to be a patient in the hospital?"More

Frequent users of the ER: Sick, insured and white
Earth Times
Frequent users of the emergency department are predominantly white, insured and at greater risk for hospitalization due to serious illness, despite public perceptions of them as abusers of the health care system with minor complaints and no health insurance. More

Swine flu pandemic reincarnates 1918 virus
ScienceNOW
Researchers have found that the H1N1 swine influenza virus that last year caused the first human pandemic in 4 decades shares an important surface protein with the virus responsible for the 1918 flu, the deadliest in human history. This newfound similarity answers many mysteries about the 2009 pandemic, including why it largely spared the elderly. More