Journal of advanced nursing
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Evaluating Emergency Nurse Practitioner services: a randomized controlled trial.
Emergency Nurse Practitioners (ENP) are increasingly managing minor injuries in Accident and Emergency departments across the United Kingdom. This study aimed to develop methods and tools that could be used to measure the quality of ENP-led care. These tools were then tested in a randomized controlled trial. ⋯ The study was sufficiently large to demonstrate higher levels of patient satisfaction and clinical documentation quality with ENP-led than SHO-led care. A larger study involving 769 patients in each arm would be required to detect a 2% difference in missed injury rates. The methods and tools used in this trial could be used in Accident and Emergency departments to measure the quality of ENP-led care.
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Deliberate self-harm is frequently encountered by emergency department (ED) nurses. However, clients are often dissatisfied with the care provided and clinicians feel ambivalent, helpless or frustrated when working with clients who self-harm. ⋯ There is a need for continuing professional development activities to address negative attitudes and provide practical strategies to inform practice and clinical protocols.
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In Australian hospitals, epidural infusions are commonly used for the management of post-operative pain in maternity and surgical patients, with little research evidence to indicate the efficacy of the educational preparation of nurses undertaking pain management. ⋯ The results of this study indicated that the nurses' theoretical knowledge outweighed their clinical skill performance and clinical decision-making. Education for nurses regarding the management of epidural infusions needs to be comprehensive, context specific and have the capacity to develop the nurse's autonomous critical thinking and clinical decision-making skills. Strategies for this include self-directed learning packages best supplemented by a demonstration of clinical skills and supervised practice.
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To describe the experiences of registered nurses (RNs) who enrolled in a web-based course from either their home or the workplace. ⋯ Web-based learning can be an effective mode of delivery for nursing education. Advance preparation by educational institutions, employers and prospective students is essential. Teachers, peers, technology, course design and the learning environment are key variables that influence the learners' experience and success.