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Patients with shortness of breath are "one of the highest priority patients" for ED nurses because of their tendency to rapidly deteriorate, says Alexandra Penzias, RN, MEd, MSN, CEN, an ED educator at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA. "We perform a complete set of vital signs, oxygen saturation, and peak flow measurements at triage," she says.
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ED patients often don't understand important information in their discharge instructions, according to a new study, which can result in bad outcomes and needless repeat visits.
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Eye infections are common among emergency department (ED) pediatric patients and can lead to significant morbidity if not properly managed.
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Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) has been provided to children in the emergency department for decades. When patients are evaluated properly, and adequate equipment, personnel, and medications are utilized, effective and safe PSA is delivered by the emergency physician, whether in a university or community setting, over a wide range of ages, and with a broad selection of medications.
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The number of lawsuits involving mid-level providers (MLPs) in the ED "seems to have skyrocketed in the last few years," according to Michael Blaivas, MD, FACEP, FAIUM, professor of emergency medicine at Northside Hospital Forsyth in Cumming, GA. "There are multiple scenarios that result in successful suits, and there is a common theme among them."
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Have you ever made an honest mistake that a family member caught before you did, or given the wrong dose of a medication? "These scenarios, unfortunately, can make the news, and they make us look careless," says Michelle Myers Glower, RN, MSN, LNC, a health care consultant based in Grand Rapids, MI. "But how we handle them can make or break us."
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What if the emergency physician (EP) strongly believes a patient needs to be admitted, but a consultant gives a recommendation over the phone to discharge the patient?
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A patient treated and discharged for pneumonia several times at an ED is later diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Could the ED be successfully sued for failing to test for human immunodeficiency virus?
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As the number of mid-level providers (MLPs) staffing EDs increases, the number of lawsuits involving them is also increasing, reports Jennifer L'Hommedieu Stankus, MD, JD, a medical-legal consultant, former medical malpractice defense attorney, and a senior emergency medicine resident at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque.
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If nursing assessment conflicts with an emergency physician's (EP), the ED nurse should speak privately with the EP about this, advises Mariann Cosby, MPA, MSN, RN, LNCC, principal of MFC Consulting in Sacramento, CA. Document subjective and objective patient data, what was communicated to the EP and other providers, their response, and then the nurses' actions, she recommends.
