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Ever wondER ER how this works?
Ever wonder how Doctors Hospital billboards with ER wait times work? Are they just a marketing gimmick, or do they accurately reflect actual and current wait times in the Doctors ER waiting room? Well, it’s certainly marketing, but it’s not a gimmick. Here’s how it works, according to Doctors’ Public Relations Manager Barclay Bishop: The wait time for any individual patient in the ER begins when they register and their patient information is entered into the department’s computer system. At the moment the data is complete and someone clicks “enter,” the clock begins ticking. The wait time clock continues to tick until the doctor views the patient’s chart. When that’s done and the doctor clicks “OK” and walks into the patient room to begin treatment, wait time ends. The time measured and shown on the billboards is “door-to-doctor.” Naturally, triage is part of the equation, providing immediate care in life-threatening situations. The billboards always note the time shown is an average, specifically the average wait time for all patients during the previous 4 hours. Information from the wait tracker in the ER is automatically updated every 15 minutes and is transferred via RSS feed to Doctors’ North Florida Division headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida. From there the data is electronically relayed back to the signs on an hourly basis. The whole process, says Bishop, was part of Doctors’ recent major expansion and renovation. Streamlining the emergency department’s treatment process resulted in two things: a minimized ER waiting room and minimized ER wait times. +
MARCH 2, 2012
What’s wrong with this picture? I
f you’re thinking, “For starters, that antique isn’t even 720p,” we have one word for you: wrong! We’re going for something completely different. Our “For starters” would be, “Where is the adult supervision?” This looks like a recipe for disaster on several fronts. First, the remote is on top of the television. By itself that’s not a great offense: it could be a simple but effective strategy to keep this little rug rat from watching television when he should be exercising his body and his imagination through play. But in this case, with mom not in the picture — and let’s cut her some slack: she may have stepped out of this room ten seconds ago — the remote is in a potentially dangerous place, inviting Junior to climb for it. What might happen next? One possible scenario: opening a drawer and then standing on it will change the dresser’s center of gravity. Depending on how much weight is in the other drawers — and in the drawer that has been pulled out — this center of gravity change could rock the dresser enough to cause the TV to fall. Older sets like this one are significantly front-heavy, so it doesn’t take a lot to make them tip forward. Scenario two: the dresser doesn’t move, but when our climber reaches for the remote he holds on to the TV to steady himself and in the process pulls it forward. The remote falls. He falls. The TV falls. Somebody gets hurt. Granted, the days of 800-pound Early American Walnut console televisions are about as common as front teeth in Riverhawks players. But those televisions never tipped over anyway; it took 8 beefy guys and a handtruck to budge them an inch. Today’s lighter TVs are tippy and a half: according to the US Product Safety Commission, there is on average one fatality involving a child 8 or younger every two weeks from situations like the one shown in this picture. The tally is 169 deaths from falling televisions alone in the 8 and below age group between 2000 and 2010, and in
all, 245 deaths when furniture and appliances are added to the statistics. In Chicago, four kids, ages 1, 3, 4, and 6, have been killed by falling TVs between October and early February. The most recent death was a 1-year-old who bumped an older TV weighing more than 100 pounds that was on an aquarium stand. It fell on the boy, fracturing his skull. And it’s not just children who are being affected. Of more than 43,000 injuries nationwide treated in emergency rooms 35 percent were people aged 18 to 59; 7 percent were 60 and above; the remainder (58 percent) were children up through age 17. Preventing these injuries and deaths is not a difficult challenge. TVs can be securely wallmounted or secured on sturdy low tables using anti-tip straps that are for sale everywhere (Google “TV anti tip”). Tall shelving can likewise be easily and quickly anchored to the wall to prevent tipping. Anti-tipping brackets for appliances are also readily available. +
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