Emergency nurse : the journal of the RCN Accident and Emergency Nursing Association
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The treatment received in emergency departments by people who self-harm depends to a great extent on the behaviour of staff and how this is perceived by service users. In this article, a long-time service user describes how she was pleasantly surprised by the attitudes of the emergency nurses and doctors who cared for her after she had self-harmed.
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The development of trauma networks in the U. K. has been proposed to standardise care and improve outcomes, and thereby reduce morbidity and mortality rates among severely injured patients. This article outlines the history of trauma networks in the United States and the advantages and disadvantages of setting them up in the U. K.
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Establishing vascular access is vital to maximise resuscitation in critically ill children and adults (LaRocco and Wang 2003), and failure can result in delays in life-saving treatment (Nutbeam and Daniels 2010). The traditional intravenous access method can be difficult to achieve in patients with circulatory collapse (LaRocco and Wang 2003) and failure rates in emergency situations vary between 10 and 40 per cent (Lewis 1986). ⋯ The IO route is described and the indications and contraindications considered. Common insertion sites and devices of IO access are discussed.