The Nursing clinics of North America
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Encouraging family presence during resuscitation is controversial. Health care providers should use evidence-based practice to review this issue and be open to the idea of allowing the family to be present. ⋯ Health care institutions should revise their practices to coincide with the wants and needs of their patients and families. Nurses have an ethical obligation to intervene and create family presence programs.
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Nurs. Clin. North Am. · Mar 2002
ReviewSpecial considerations for pediatric triage in the emergency department.
Pediatric emergencies are a common problem resulting in approximately 12.5 million visits to the emergency department yearly. The triage of ill or injured children involves the same processes as that of an adult. ⋯ Developmental and physiologic variations make communication, assessment, and the identification of serious illnesses or injury quite different when compared with adult triage. Practice and ongoing education concerning pediatric triage should allow emergency department nurses to develop a sixth sense in recognizing and treating children and to become confident in triage decisions.
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Pain is one of the most common complaints that cause patients to seek care in the emergency department. Research and patient complaints however, continue to demonstrate that pain management needs improvement. This article addresses pain management in emergency care. It presents both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic methods of pain management.
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Nurs. Clin. North Am. · Mar 2002
ReviewOvercrowding and diversion in the emergency department: the health care safety net unravels.
Emergency department overcrowding and diversion of patients are serious problems that are symptomatic of larger health care system issues. Downsizing, government regulations, managed care, increased numbers of uninsured, and reimbursement decreases are issues that have created the overcrowding and diversion issues. ⋯ Options and solutions are proposed to alleviate the problem, however, greater collaboration, changed work environments, and reimbursement structures need to be developed and instituted. The safety net of the US health system is unraveling, and without intervention, the emergency department will not be able to provide services to the public at any level of quality and efficiency.
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This article discusses the recent advances and the current state of treatment of acute stroke. It outlines key components to ensure stroke victims receive emergent treatment in a coordinated and comprehensive healthcare delivery system.