ED Nursing Archives – April 1, 2003
April 1, 2003
View Issues
Are you ready for the newest ‘club drug’ overdoses? Here are life-saving tips
Here are vital management tips you must know to address growing caseloads from five top club drugs - MDMA, ketamine, 2C-T-7, GHB, and dextromethorphan.Are you using BNP testing for heart failure patients?
If congestive heart failure is misdiagnosed in your ED and the B-type natriuretic peptide test was not available, you could face increased liability risks, according to some cardiovascular experts.Check mental status or risk missing problems
You should add a D for disability caused by neurological deficits to the A, B, C tenets of airway, breathing, and circulation. Your goal is to determine if the patient is awake, alert, and oriented.Warning: JCAHO wants to see meningitis strategies
When the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations looked at delays in treatment, 23 of 29 ED-related cases involved misdiagnosis, and meningitis was missed in seven of these cases, according to a Sentinel Event Alert.Pediatric Corner: Use these tips to prevent weight-based drug errors
A recent study looked at 1,532 children treated in a pediatric ED and found that one in 10 had a medication error. The most common cause of the drug errors were mistakes in dosages. Unlike adults, children receive every single medication calculated on a per-weight basis.New tool will change the way you staff your ED
The ENA Staffing Best Practices Tool and Guidelines enable ED managers to determine the necessary number of direct care full-time equivalents required to provide care to patients seeking emergency care.Here is how the staffing tool was tested
The ENA Staffing Best Practices Tool and Guidelines was tested using data from more than 30 volunteer EDs from across the United States with a range of patient volumes and facility types.Journal Review: Domestic violence screening and referral can be effective
Interventions in the ED can have a significant impact on whether domestic violence victims receive ongoing community-based services, says this study from State University of New York at Buffalo.