ED Nursing Archives – August 1, 2005
August 1, 2005
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Are patients with life-threatening conditions in your waiting room?
A man with a mild stomachache, a woman reporting neck pain days after a motor vehicle accident, and a teenager with an ankle injury. Would these patients be triaged as low acuity and sent to your EDs waiting room? -
Avoid dangerous errors in elderly trauma cases
Could mistakes made in your ED cause an injured elderly patient to go into fluid overload or become hypothermic? Common errors in nursing practice can be life-threatening for these patients, says Karen Hayes, PhD, ARNP, assistant professor at the School of Nursing at Wichita (KS) State University. -
Are conflicts with doctors putting patients at risk?
When a physician asks for additional suture material for wound repair and the nurse realizes there is none left, the doctor explodes in anger. -
Warning: Abusive behavior can lead to lawsuits
A male physician has a well-known habit of using vulgar language and continually berating the nursing staff who all happen to be female. This behavior exposes your ED not only to high vacancy rates for nursing staff, but also significant liability risks, says Brian A. Lapps Jr., a Nashville, TN-based attorney specializing in employment law. -
New medication for ICH stroke patients is coming
A patient comes to your ED with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), the deadliest and least treatable form of stroke, which accounts for 15% of strokes and nearly half of the 164,000 stroke deaths in the United States annually. Right now, there is very little you can do for this patient, but that may change soon. -
JCAHO targets medications: What surveyors are asking
Failing to document the medications a patient currently is taking. Nurses mixing IV piggybacks. Storing drugs in concentrated form. -
Do you have 5-level triage yet? New advice offered
If your ED hasnt switched to a five-level triage system yet, theres no time like the present, according to a report from the joint five-level triage task force of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA). -
Drastically cut turnaround times for lab results
Are you struggling to cut delays in getting lab test results? Lab delays can have a dramatic impact on patient flow.