International emergency nursing
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The majority of patients who attend emergency departments (EDs) in Saudi Arabia have non-urgent problems, resulting in overcrowding, excessive waiting times and delayed care for more acutely ill patients. The purpose of this research was to examine the reasons for non-urgent visits to a Saudi ED and factors associated with patient perceptions of urgency. ⋯ Multiple factors influence non-urgent visits to the ED in the Saudi context including insufficient community awareness of the role of the ED and perceived lack of access to primary healthcare services.
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The formal provision of emergency health care is a developing specialty in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Ghana. While emergency medicine training programs for physicians are on the rise, there are few established training programs for emergency nurses. The results of a unique collaboration are described between a university in the United States, a Ghanaian university and a Ghanaian teaching hospital that has developed an emergency nursing diploma program. The expected outcomes of this training program include: (a) an innovative, interdisciplinary, team-based clinical training model, (b) a unique and low-resource emergency nursing curriculum and (c) a comprehensive and sustainable training program to increase in-country retention of nurses.
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Emergency department (ED) crowding and prolonged waiting times have been associated with adverse consequences towards quality and patient safety. ⋯ The number of patients simultaneously present is a moderate indicator of unsafe waiting times. Future initiatives to improve safe waiting times should not focus solely on occupancy, and expand their focus towards other factors affecting waiting time.
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To determine the frequency, duration and type of audible monitor alarms in an ED, utilising the standard manufacturer's classification. ⋯ Whilst high level monitoring is desired from a patient safety perspective, it contributes to a significant ambient noise level, which is recognised by all who pass through an ED, and can be detrimental to patients, relatives and staff. We have demonstrated that there is a high probability of near-continuous alarm noise from patient monitoring in a 10-bedded Majors area. We make suggestions for methods of noise reduction and intend to implement some of these within our own ED.
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This study investigated the inter-observer agreement (IOA) between doctors and nurses on triaging adult ED dyspneic patients. ⋯ Trained ED nurses were safe and managed adult dyspneic patients as well as doctors at triage.