Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
-
The purpose of this study was to obtain a broad view of the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and lived experiences of emergency nurses regarding implicit and explicit bias. ⋯ In both our survey and focus group data, we see evidence that racism and other forms of bias are threats to safe patient care. We challenge all emergency nurses and institutions to reflect on the implicit and explicit biases they hold and to engage in purposeful learning about the effects of individual and structural bias on patients and colleagues. We suggest an approach that favors structural analysis, intervention, and accountability.
-
Contaminated blood cultures may have detrimental effects on patients, the organization, and antimicrobial stewardship. Patients in the emergency department may need blood cultures collected before antimicrobial therapy. Contaminated blood culture samples may contribute to prolonged hospital stay and also are associated with delayed or unnecessary antimicrobial therapy. This initiative aims to improve the emergency department's blood culture contamination rate that will eventually benefit the patients who will receive timely and proper antimicrobial therapy, and benefit the organization fiscally. ⋯ Blood culture contamination rate continued to decrease with the use of a predisinfection process with 2% Chlorhexidine gluconate cloth before blood sample collection process. Practice improvement also was evident with effective feedback mechanism.
-
The concept of "trauma-informed care" as a paradigm in public health and human services has evolved over the past 30 years. Can trauma-informed practices be used as a leadership tool to help address staff/colleagues as they grapple with the concerns associated with a complex health care landscape? Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?" This powerful approach to addressing stress might help set the stage for caring and meaningful interactions among staff and colleagues before exchanges become fraught with blame and unproductive or toxic impacts on team-based relationships.
-
Emergency nurses are on the front line of patient care for suicidal persons, yet many nurses report feeling unprepared to effectively manage suicidal patients owing to a lack of suicide-specific training. The purpose of this study was to examine the suicide-specific training experiences of emergency nurses and evaluate how training relates to burnout, confidence, and comfort working with suicidal patients. ⋯ Evidence-based/expert-delivered professional training in suicide intervention is associated with improved confidence, comfort, and perceived ability to care for suicidal patients and lower burnout. Providing evidence-based suicide intervention training may improve quality of care for suicidal patients by improving emergency nurse confidence and comfort for treating these high-risk patients.