What exactly is disposition?

[jgalt42]

Hey guys,

3rd year interested in EM. Still fairly new to the field and was wondering what disposition meant? How does that differ from your assessment and plan? Is disposition basically whether the patient will be d/c, admitted, or taken up to OR? When you're presenting to your attendings how do you add this to your presentation?

Thanks a bunch!

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[tkim]

Hey guys,

3rd year interested in EM. Still fairly new to the field and was wondering what disposition meant? How does that differ from your assessment and plan? Is disposition basically whether the patient will be d/c, admitted, or taken up to OR? When you're presenting to your attendings how do you add this to your presentation?

Thanks a bunch!

Disposition is part of the plan.

Assessment: chest pain
Plan: ASA, serial trops, +/- consult cards, blah, blah, blah ... dispo: admit.

Assessment: asthma exacerbation - improved after hour-long neb ventolin
Plan: steroids, refill MDI, close followup with PCP, dispo: d/c home

Assessment: acute appy
Plan: IVF, 2g cefox, consult GS, dispo: admit to surgery

 

[Tenk]

Disposition is a warm fuzzy feeling an ED doc gets when they figure out how they are going to get that patient out of the department.

 

[Siggy]

In the words of House of God... placement... and placement comes first regardless of your field. Placement is, "How do I make this patient not my problem anymore?" For EM? Admit, transfer, or discharge.

 

[tkim]

Veni, Vidi, Dispo

 

[gro2001]

Veni, Vidi, CT, Dispo

FTFY.

 

[Daiphon]

FTFY.

The motto of our nightshift group is:

Dispo ergo sum

d=)