Care for a patient who undergoes an amputation is often complicated and is time-sensitive. A lot of thought goes into whether replantation is attempted or not, but those decisions are reserved for the replantation team. The role of the emergency provider is to expediently evaluate the patient and prepare him or her for care by the replantation team.
Just a wrist sprain? After reading this issue, you may want to look at that X-ray again.
If a patient reports taking antibiotics during your medication reconciliation, you may learn these were prescribed for a urinary tract infection or dental work months earlier. "For whatever reason, they didn't take the antibiotics as prescribed, and now they will take a pill whenever they have a sore throat," says Kimberly Barker, BS, RN, CEN, an ED supervisor at St. David's South Austin (TX) Medical Center.
