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With intraosseous (IO) vascular access, patients are subjected to a minimum number of sticks, so there is less chance of creating a portal for infection, says Sean Hall, an ED nurse at Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, ME. "The time which can be saved by using these devices can be lifesaving in a critical patient," he says.
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If you forget to tell an inpatient nurse that your ED patient has an allergy or was given a certain medication, the consequences could be dire.
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Minor respiratory complaints were all that a man reported to ED nurses at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, but in fact, he was suicidal.
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Are you able to try sticking your patient more than once or twice? Can you wait for the best possible nurse to be free? Do you need to consider alternative access immediately?
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When John Provost, RN, started working in the ED in 2006 at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ, he purchased a PalmPilot, then added some software with medical information.
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If an ED nurse at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, DE, suspects a patient could be having a myocardial infarction (MI), he or she does the EKG immediately at the bedside and interprets it on the spot, says Patricia L. Blair, RN, BSN, CEN, patient care coordinator.
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An elder woman brought by ambulance from an extended care facility was awake and oriented, but didn't know her medications or even the facility's name and phone number, recalls Donna Sparks, MSN, RN, CEN, director of emergency services at Baptist Hospital Miami (FL).
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Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections are on the rise, with an estimated 500,000 cases in hospitals and nursing homes each year and increased mortality rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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A female patient told ED nurses that her only complaint was back pain, with no shortness of breath, chest pain, discomfort, nausea, or vomiting.
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"More and more" preteen and adolescent patients are coming to the Emergency Department Trauma Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee with a variety of psychosocial needs, and many have underlying medical conditions as well, says Carrie L. Baumann, RN, BSN, patient care supervisor.
