Emergency nurse : the journal of the RCN Accident and Emergency Nursing Association
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The sudden admission to an emergency department (ED) of a patient requiring resuscitation can be a traumatic experience for families, who often require a great deal of support from ED staff. The needs of such staff must be considered too, if the care of patients and families during resuscitation attempts is to be improved. This article discusses the findings of a systematic review of the literature on family-centred care during and after resuscitation attempts, and reveals that, although families appear to favour witnessed resuscitation, the practice remains controversial among healthcare professionals. Chaotic workloads, time restraints, lack of education and poor coping abilities all appear to affect wider implementation of the practice in EDs.
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This article discusses the administration of intranasal diamorphine as an analgesia-in paediatric trauma care. The authors outline evidence for its use and discuss a recent multicentre safety study of an intranasal diamorphine product. In addition, they advise emergency department nurses on administering the analgesia, and offer guidelines for determining patient suitability and post-administration assessment.
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Mistakes made in healthcare settings and the challenges to staff that arise from them can harm service users, consume time and money, and often receive bad publicity. However, by learning from these mistakes and meeting these challenges, practitioners can improve the quality of the care they provide. This article explores what is meant by mistakes and challenges in the context of health care. It suggests that front line managers are best placed to prevent and learn from mistakes, and thereby improve care for patients.