ED Nursing Archives – January 1, 2006
January 1, 2006
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Do you report medication near-misses? Here’s what Joint Commission wants
You drew up penicillin for an allergic patient but caught it just in time. You gave a patient the wrong dosage of a sedative, but luckily no harm was done. Grabbing an unlabeled syringe, you almost administered the wrong medication one that could have killed your patient. -
Are you giving poor care to high-risk wounds?
A 1 cm uncontaminated cut on the forehead of a healthy child. A 6 cm contused, macerated wound with dirt and gravel on a childs knee. -
Is it delirium or dementia? A life may be at stake
After several hours of sleeping it off, a 74-year-old intoxicated man being treated in an ED still had an altered level of consciousness. -
Watch for intra-abdominal hypertension with trauma
Do you know the signs of intra-abdominal hypertension? This condition can develop in patients who have had intra-abdominal surgery because of a traumatic injury such as a liver laceration or repair of a ruptured aortic aneurysm, says Reneé Semonin Holleran, RN, PhD, nurse manager for the adult transport service at Intermountain Health Care LifeFlight in Salt Lake City and former clinical manager for the ED at University of Utah Hospital and Clinics. -
Will treatment window for stroke in the ED widen?
Does every stroke patient who comes to your ED and is eligible for treatment with clot-busting drugs receive potentially life-saving medication? The answer is almost definitely no. Only about 2% of strokes are treated with thrombolytic therapy in the United States currently. -
Are you overlooking crucial ED nursing competencies?
Is maintaining competencies a growing problem for your ED, due to the nursing shortage, fewer resources, and increasing patient volumes? Surveyors from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) are looking very closely at this area, reports Kim Colonnelli, RN, BSN, MA, district director for emergency and trauma services for Palomar Pomerado Health.