Creating a Best Practice for Discharges Against Medical Advice Background: Nationally, 1-2% of medical discharges from hospitals are against medical advice (AMA).  Patients that leave AMA are at higher risk for readmission and adverse health events.   At our facility, FY 2014 data revealed that 1% of discharges from the medical/surgical wards were AMA.  The 30 [...]

Creating a Best Practice for Discharges Against Medical Advice Background: Nationally, 1-2% of medical discharges from hospitals are against medical advice (AMA).  Patients that leave AMA are at higher risk for readmission and adverse health events.   At our facility, FY 2014 data revealed that 1% of discharges from the medical/surgical wards were AMA.  The 30 [...]

Case Presentation: 43 year old male with history of HTN and HLD presented to the emergency room with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and tongue numbness two hours after ingesting one centimeter of “Jamaican stone”. He reported more than ten episodes of non-bloody, non-bilious emesis. He denied chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, fevers or chills. Vital [...]