ED Nursing Archives – March 1, 2006
March 1, 2006
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ED nurses saved $100,000 and cut drug errors to almost zero
Stopping a nurse from giving ampicillin-sulbactam to a patient with a penicillin allergy. Reducing tobramycin dosing for an elderly patient with an elevated serum creatinine level. Correcting an intravenous dose of epinephrine that was 10 times the recommended dose. -
Cut door-to-cath time dramatically in your ED
Twenty minutes after a man having a heart attack came through the door of Mercy General Hospitals ED in Sacramento, CA, a balloon was inflated in the hospitals cardiac catheterization lab. The man did well and was discharged home two days later, reports Becky Roberge, RN, the EDs clinical nurse educator. -
Pediatric Corner: What you might be doing wrong for pediatric trauma
If a major pediatric trauma came through the doors of your ED right now, would you get sidetracked by the obvious injuries without paying close attention to trends in vital signs? Would you lack specific crash cart equipment because no one replaced or these items during slow times? Would you forget to check a bedside glucose level or fail to give pain medication? -
When disaster hits, ED nurses are at high risk
Leaking chemicals. Fuel in stagnant floodwaters. Contamination from human waste. Mosquito-borne illnesses from standing water. Toxic gases and particulates from fires. -
Nurses cut stroke care delays, assist with echoes
When a 40-year-old woman came to the University of California-Irvines ED for transient ischemic attack of unknown origin, the echocardiogram was done right in the ED and showed a right-to-left shunt at the atrial level. -
Web Alert: Site gives free pain management sources
Do you want to improve pain management in your ED? Massachusetts General Hospitals MGH Cares About Pain Relief Initiative site offers a wealth of free resources, including current recommendations, accreditation standards, and more. -
Journal Review
ED nurses spend most of their time on indirect patient care but they spend very little time on tasks that could be performed by ancillary staff, says this study from the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.