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A recent article by investigators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reiterated the following basic infection control measures to prevent patient-to-patient transmission of bloodborne pathogens in ambulatory care settings.
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Emerging data in elderly patients indicate that a stealth epidemic of hepatitis C and hepatitis B virus may be going undetected in ambulatory care settings, Hospital Infection Control has learned. If the data are verified, the infectious risk extends to all patients in ambulatory care, as elderly patients are essentially a surrogate marker for health care transmission due to their lack of other risk factors.
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EDs are not adhering to recommended guidelines when caring for patients with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), according to this study from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.
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Is your ED practicing according to current guidelines for trauma patients? Do you need images for use during trauma inservices? The www.trauma.org web site has become an invaluable resource for many emergency nurses.
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Its more important than a comfortable waiting room with VCRs and fish tanks, or even an attentive triage nurse. In fact, its often the single most important factor impacting patient satisfaction: door-to-doctor times.
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How many times have you carefully assessed a stroke patient in your ED to determine time of symptom onset, only to find out that this individual is not eligible to receive thrombolytics? New treatment options on the horizon will give you other potentially lifesaving interventions for these patients.
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Are potential violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act high on your worry list? Heres another high-risk area that you should add to your list: Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) citations for violations of the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (BPS). This standard requires you to take steps to protect health care workers from needle stick injuries.
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A nurse pulls out a 10,000 units per cc concentration of heparin for a cardiac patient double the correct dosage. Did this patient get twice the dose of heparin, resulting in bleeding complications? No, because the dosage was double-checked by a second ED nurse, so the error never occurred, reports Sharon A. Graunke, RN, MS, CEN, TNS, ED clinical nurse specialist at Elmhurst (IL) Memorial Hospital.
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In light of increasing numbers of psychiatric patients at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, NV, the following steps were taken to ensure safety of ED patients and staff.
