2

1

d

A

bFparrr

2

J

d

C

tspe

2

a

d

DS

AC(mpioa

Policy Statements

To meet this goal, the following steps are recommended tominimize the effect of community-wide influenza.1. Ensure that emergency care and critical care providers

(emergency medical services personnel, nurses, physicians,and ancillary staff involved in direct patient care) areimmunized against influenza.

2. Implement rapid screening and appropriate respiratoryinfection control interventions for all individuals arriving inthe ED.

3. End the practice of boarding admitted patients in the EDwhen no inpatient beds are available, which will allow theED to respond to increased patient volumes and maintainappropriate respiratory precautions. Hospitals operating atfull capacity may be required to distribute boarded patientswho do not require respiratory isolation to inpatienthallways, solariums, admission units, and other spacesoutside the ED.

4. Develop robust communication methods with the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention that provide real-timeguidance specific for ED care (triage, testing, treatment, anddisposition) for both seasonal influenza epidemics andpandemics.

5. Require hospitals and communities that are severely affectedby influenza to postpone elective admissions and to developstrategies to increase surge capacities, including floor andisolation beds, until the crisis abates.

6. Engage emergency physician participation in city, state, andnational public health response planning.

7. Develop hospital-based and regional emergency responseplans to appropriately manage increased patient volumesand containment precautions in the event of an epidemic.Such response plans may include alternate venues of care forlow-acuity patients.

8. Create regional command centers to monitor ambulancediversion status and local inpatient and ED capacity and tocoordinate regional ED response.

Revised and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors April2011

Originally approved by the ACEP Board of DirectorsNovember 2004

doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2011.04.028

Academic Departments of Emergency Medicine inMedical Schools

[Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58:113.]

ACEP believes that each medical school should include anacademic department of emergency medicine that will beresponsible for educational programs in emergency medicineand that will be freestanding and equal in status to the other

specialties of medicine. a

Volume , . : July

Reaffirmed by the ACEP Board of Directors September005 and April 2011

Originally approved as Board Motion BM 005 November974; approved as a policy statement March 1999

oi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2011.05.003

lcohol Screening in the Emergency Department

[Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58:113.]

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)elieves alcohol abuse is a significant public health problem.urther, ACEP believes emergency medical professionals areositioned and qualified to mitigate the consequences of alcoholbuse through screening programs, brief intervention, andeferral to treatment. ACEP encourages wide availability ofesources necessary to address the needs of patients with alcohol-elated problems and those at risk for them.

Revised and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors April011

Originally approved by the ACEP Board of Directorsanuary 2005

oi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2011.05.002

ompensation When Services Are Mandated

[Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58:113.]

Any government agency, legislative body, insurance carrier,hird-party payer, or any other entity that mandates that aervice or product be provided by emergency physicians or otherroviders should also mandate an adequate source of funding tonsure appropriate compensation for those services or products.

Reaffirmed by the ACEP Board of Directors September005 and April 2011

Originally approved as CR011 September 1992; approved aspolicy statement June 1999

oi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2011.05.004

rug-Assisted Intubation in the Prehospitaletting

[Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58:113-114.]

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP),merican College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-OT), and the National Association of EMS Physicians

NAEMSP) recognize that expert prehospital airwayanagement by trained, non-physician, EMS providers is of

aramount importance in the treatment of critically ill andnjured patients. Endotracheal intubation (ETI) may be difficultr impossible, especially if the patient is combative or has intactirway reflexes. The scope of prehospital care may include drug-

ssisted intubation (DAI) to facilitate ETI.

Annals of Emergency Medicine 113