International emergency nursing
-
Nurses counsel the parents of patients leaving without being seen by a physician (LWBS) about common childhood illnesses. This strategy's impact is not known. ⋯ This study suggests that, of patients who LWBS, those who receive counseling by a nurse have less return visits in the following 48h.
-
Editorial Comment
Climate change and the Emergency Nurse Practitioner role.
-
Fractures are a common emergency department (ED) diagnosis. Ultrasound is a useful tool to evaluate for the presence of long bone fractures and can be performed by minimally trained individuals. We examined the ability of ED nurses to sonographically detect long bone fractures using a recently described training model. ⋯ An overall sensitivity of 98% (95% confidence interval: 92-99%) and specificity of 93% (95% confidence interval: 76-99%) was observed for the detection of a fractured model. No difference in fracture detection accuracy (p>0.05) was revealed compared to an evaluation by 30 ED physicians. While the clinical impact of this ability remains uncertain, future utilization of nursing ability to detect fractures by ultrasound may improve patient care in ways such as more efficient triaging of radiographs and the mobilization of resources for fracture reduction.
-
In recent years economic and political drivers have strongly influenced the development and introduction of new roles such as medical substitution roles within emergency care in the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK). ⋯ There is general agreement that non-medical roles help to reduce waiting times in emergency departments, as well as attracting a high level of patient satisfaction, confidence and acceptance of these roles. Several issues were identified which warrant further study; including the current UK evidence surrounding the limited scope of practice of these roles.
-
In 2005, we presented a manuscript about the use of aspirin (ASA) in the setting of the Emergency Department (ED). We now write to report recent developments in our understanding about ASA and individual responses to the medication. The phenomenon of aspirin resistance is explored.