
Nathan Schlicher, MD, JD, Associate Director of the Patient Safety Organization, TeamHealth, Associate Medical Director, SJMC, Tacoma, WA, Attorney, JGKMW, Seattle, WA
Gordon Wheeler, Associate Executive Director of the Public Affairs Division/Washington Office of the American College of Emergency Physicians
Barbara K. Tomar, Federal Affairs Director, American College of Emergency Physicians

This issue features a Case Study on psychiatric boarding in Massachusetts EDs where Stephen K. Epstein, MD, MPP, Mark D. Pearlmutter, MD, FACEP and Alan Woodward, MD, FACEP are in the process of quantifying the problem and preforming innovative research that may have implications on the future management and flow of psychiatric patients. However, none of this can be accomplished without a change in how practitioners view psychiatric patients. Beverly G. Hart, RN PhD PMHNP-BC, an adult psychiatric nurse practitioner, shares her expertise on the Best Practices she has encountered throughout her career.
The Urgent Matters Team is also excited to announce our recent partnership with several influential multidisciplinary organizations and celebrate our first collaborative issue! We have many exciting changes coming your way that we hope will improve your access to our resources and enable you to continue to improve the field of Emergency Care.
2012 ACEP Leadership & Advocacy Conference, Washington DC, May 20 - 23
IHI Perfecting ED Operations, Washington, DC, June 7-8
Attend a discussion on ED patient flow and operations as a Strategic Hospital Initiative, key strategic concepts, accelerating admissions from the ED & optimizing patient and staff satisfaction

The Urgent Matters toolkit is a collection of strategies and tools designed to target specific issues facing hospital emergency departments. This toolkit has been developed by hospitals across the country in conjunction with the Urgent Matters national program office at The George Washington University.
Many of these tools are now available on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website. Check out the example below or click "see all" to view the full list.
Utilizing a Pediatric Emergency Preparedness Toolkit
Harbor-UCLA medical Center