Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Workplace violence has been recognized as a violent crime that requires targeted responses from employers, law enforcement, and the community. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most common source of nonfatal injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work in the health care and social assistance industry was assault on the health care worker. What is not well understood are the precursors and sequelae of violence perpetrated against emergency nurses and other health care workers by patients and visitors. The purpose of this study was to better understand the experience of emergency nurses who have been physically or verbally assaulted while providing patient care in US emergency departments. ⋯ These findings are consistent with the extant literature but with an added contribution of clearly identifying an underlying cultural acceptance of violence in the emergency department, as well as a distinct lack of cue recognition, in this sample of emergency nurses.
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The ED and Behavioral Health (BH) department developed a behaviorally-based alcohol intoxication scale (AIS) to assess when patients can be transferred to the BH unit from the ED rather than using blood alcohol levels. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the scale. A secondary purpose was to determine whether there was any correlation between blood alcohol level and the alcohol intoxication scale. ⋯ This study showed preliminary support for using a behaviorally-based assessment as a basis for transferring patients to the BH unit. More studies are needed to further substantiate the reliability and validity of this measure as a tool to accurately assess stability for transfer to a BH unit.
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The review questions that are featured in each of the issues of JEN are based upon the Emergency Nursing Core Curriculum and other pertinent resources to emergency nursing practice, pediatric and adult. These questions offer emergency nurses an opportunity to test their knowledge about their practice.