International emergency nursing
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Multicenter Study
Factors influencing decision making among ambulance nurses in emergency care situations.
The aim of this study was to investigate which factors that influences decision making among Swedish ambulance nurses in emergency care situations. Nurses in ambulance are sometimes forced to make decisions without adequate information. Data collected from interviews with 14 ambulance nurses was analyzed. ⋯ In addition, the nurses' experience is important for decision making, because the experience factor constitutes a qualitative difference between a novice nurse and a more experienced nurse's influence on decision-making. Furthermore, external factors, such as the uncertainty of a prehospital environment, expectations and pressures from an environment in which one is working while being observed by other people, and collaborating with many different operators, all contribute to making decisions in an urgent situation even more complex. Further studies are needed to understand the complexity of decision making in emergency situations.
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This study examined emergency department (ED) staff attitudes and beliefs about alcohol-related ED presentations in order to recommend improved detection and brief intervention strategies. ⋯ This study reported that many staff lack the confidence or sense of clinical responsibility to fully and appropriately manage ED patients with alcohol-related problems. ED staff appear to require additional training, resources and support to enhance their management of patients with alcohol-related problems.
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Comparative Study
An investigation comparing the Oxford Chair Technique with the traditional methods of glenohumeral dislocation reduction currently implemented.
This paper reports on the findings of a quantitative, retrospective service evaluation. It compared a new, conscious, sedation-free technique to reduce anterior glenohumeral dislocations with the traditional methods of reduction (TMR) currently implemented. ⋯ Overall, the success rate for reduction using the OCT was good in view of this being a new treatment to the ED. While the OCT had a lower success rate of reduction compared to TMR, when reduction was successful using the OCT, there were overwhelming time-saving benefits to the patient with subsequent logistical benefits to the ED. The use of conscious sedation and morphine was also significantly less for the OCT group compared to TMR.
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Head and neck injuries following the road traffic crashes (RTCs) are the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in most developed and developing countries and may also result in temporary or permanent disability. ⋯ The present study findings provided an overview of head and neck injuries in Qatar from road traffic crashes. The incidence of head and neck injuries is still very high in Qatar, but the severity of injury was mild in most of the victims. The findings of the study highlighted the need for taking urgent steps for safety of people especially drivers and passengers.
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The aim of this study was to determine emergency department doctors' and nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding problematic substance use and substance users. ⋯ There is an urgent need for further in-service training programmes and the development of standard protocols/guidelines for the identification and management of substance using patients who present in the emergency department.