Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a serious health complication that develop as a result of pressure alone or pressure in combination with shearing forces. Although PUs are typically associated with older adults and chronic illness, acutely injured trauma patients may have a particular risk for the development of PUs. To prevent PU development or detect PUs in an early stage, skin assessment and PU classification should start during the ED stay, before hospital admission. The aim of this study was to assess the PU identification and classification skills of emergency nurses and emergency physicians and to evaluate the short-term effect of an educational intervention. ⋯ This study investigated the effect of an educational intervention on the interrater reliability, PU identification, and PU classification skills of emergency nurses and physicians when tested immediately after the intervention. Study results show that interrater reliability, PU identification, and PU classification of photographs all improved, but identifying the presence of a PU in a photograph was less challenging than categorizing the same wound.
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A health system serving Burlington and Camden Counties, New Jersey, sought to improve labor productivity for its emergency departments, with emphasis on optimizing nursing staff schedules. ⋯ Today's emergency department manager can leverage the increasing ease of access to the emergency department information system's data repository to successfully design a simple but effective tool to support the alignment of its nursing schedule with demand patterns.
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These online review questions offer emergency nurses an opportunity to test their knowledge about their practice.