Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Identifying patients with sepsis at triage can lead to a decrease in door-to-antibiotic time. Our community hospital emergency department's mean door-to-antibiotic time was 105.3 minutes, falling short of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guideline's benchmark goal of 60 minutes. One of the most common reasons for treatment delays was that patients with sepsis were not identified upon entrance to the emergency department. A solution to the delay was to implement a practice improvement project by having the triage nurse screen all patients for sepsis upon entrance to the emergency department. ⋯ The simple change in patient throughput improved door-to-antibiotic time with minimal obstacles. The sepsis-screening tool implemented at triage decreased the door-to-antibiotic time by 33.4 minutes, without affecting triage time, and enhanced patient throughput of potentially septic patients.
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Although hospital falls and injuries are a significant patient safety concern, research is limited regarding falls and injuries in the emergency department. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to identify and implement evidence-based interventions to prevent patient falls and injuries in the emergency department. ⋯ The emergency department is a unique environment with complex patient populations. Multifactorial interventions should be used to identify and prevent patient falls and injuries. Multiple change strategies and leadership support are essential to sustain changes. Future research should be conducted regarding the use of fall risk assessments and fall prevention strategies specific to the emergency department.
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Practice Guideline
Clinical Practice Guideline: Gastric Tube Placement Verification.