Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Lethal weaponry and tactics used by enemy forces in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have resulted in complex multisystem injury patterns among US allied military personnel engaged in combat operations. Military medical personnel deployed in support of these campaigns have had to maintain a high degree of clinical skill to effectively render care to wounded combatants, a necessity that has been challenged by a lack of training opportunities within the military health care system. Medical components across the military have formed partnerships with civilian institutions to form programs such as the Saint Louis Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, in which medical personnel from active and reserve components are able to obtain and build skills needed to respond to contingencies that may arise both abroad and within the homeland.
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For emergency departments experiencing crowding and a high percentage of patients leaving without being seen, a telephone triage service can provide other care options for low-acuity patients. ⋯ A telephone triage service may help decrease ED crowding by communicating other care options to patients with low-acuity health problems.
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Nontargeted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening and targeted hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening for selected high-risk patients (those born between 1945 and 1965 and those who report injection drug use) was integrated into our ED triage process and carried out by nurses. Determining whether emergency nurses accurately perceive what patients experience is important to know because staff misperceptions may pose a barrier to program adherence and sustainability. ⋯ Emergency nurses not only frequently misperceive how patients experience ED-based HIV/HCV screening, but these misperceptions are skewed toward the negative, representing a type of staff bias. Further research is recommended to determine if such misperceptions adversely affect implementation of screening.