Emergency nurses act as the frontline to healthcare. There are many aspects of emergency nursing that make this specialty stand out. Patient load varies, making teamwork crucial. A great extent of knowledge on many illnesses and injuries is required to care successfully for the range of patients seen by an emergency nurse. Triage plays a significant role in recognizing the severity of patient complaints, but also in directing patients to appropriate areas and care providers. Screening starts in triage but continuously carried out by emergency nurses in efforts to identify all the needs of their patients. Emergency nursing also has many facets that cause the nurse difficulty, including a feeling of failure. Ethical issues are a constant battle in nursing, but emergency nurses struggle with use and prescription of opioids and the decision to post wait times. When evaluated, emergency nurses play an important role that is unlike other nursing specialties. Improving Efficiency of Triage to Meet the Demands of the Emergency Department Emergency nurses often care for a variety of patients from small injuries to critical illnesses. It is emergency nurses that often see patients before physicians. It is this that makes it especially important for emergency nurses to be able to assess rapidly and treat patients. Emergency nurses are expected to be knowledgeable in many areas and skilled in many tasks. It is experience that typically turns a good emergency
Because patients need round-the-clock care, working hours include days, nights, weekends and holidays. Nurses spend considerable time walking, bending, stretching and standing, so they must follow proper body mechanics to guard against injury. Because of the fast-paced and variable environment of emergency rooms, ER Nurses must possess good stress coping skills and be able to relate to people of all ages and backgrounds. They must be able to work accurately around frequent interruptions. Nurses may face hazards from exposure to chemicals and infectious diseases. In addition, they treat patients that may be confused, irrational, agitated, and/or uncooperative. Along with all this you need. At a minimum for most entry-level emergency room (ER) nursing careers, applicants must have a diploma from an accredited
For the most part, hospitals are places where one comes for healing and it is place where our clients should feel safe and away from harm. Nurses have an important role as a patient advocate and are to provide all clients with safe, compassionate, and quality care at all times. Nonetheless, the hospital can also be a dangerous place for inpatients. It is a foreign environment to clients and there may be alterations in their medical condition in regards to their physical and/or mental status. With this said, there is a need to improve upon how we care for our clients, especially those who are at most risk for various incidents.
Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine
A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).
Triage is usually the first step of the emergency room and helps determine severity of each patient. Once through triage, the patient
Nurses are undoubtedly one of the most trusted professionals worldwide. Patients, family members, and doctors entrust nurses to provide the utmost quality care to sick individuals. Top priorities of all nurses are advocacy for their patients: including advocating for their physical health, holistic welfare, and utmost importantly, their safety. Patient safety will always be the top priority when providing patient care. The nurse’s responsibility during every patient encounter is to ensure that each patient under her care, receives no harm. As a direct result of the previous statement, it is crucial that every nurse knows their rights to refuse unsafe patient assignments, the process to refuse unsafe patient assignments, and the legal or ethical ramifications that could present themselves if proper judgement is not used. By understanding these rules, nurses not only achieve the responsibility of advocating for patient safety but also safeguard their careers and license.
Nurses’ are to ensure patient safety in all aspects of care provided. Sometimes, this is found outside of what is considered “actual” care, such as a physical assessments and administration of medications. Every day nurses’ are given assignments to follow, which includes which patients to take care of. What happens when this assignment is unsafe for all involved? Administrative Codes have been established by each state Board of Nursing to guide nurses’ in different situations. Safe Harbor Peer Review assists nurses to know how to handle an unsafe assignment.
“The emergency nurse acts with compassion, integrity and respect for human dignity while recognizing and safeguarding the autonomy of the individual”, (ENA, 2015). While this provision appears simply stated, most nurses find it difficult to remember their patient as a human being with intricate needs and basic human rights. As an emergency nurse, I have to keep these needs and rights at the forefront of my thoughts during the care of the patient during a very vulnerable time. Patients come in under stress, sometimes involuntary and at the most desperate times in their lives. I constantly have to make a concerted effort to communicate with the patient during a chaotic time, take time to listen to the patients fears and concerns and communicate those to the team.
Who is affected? Triage is the first patients to find. The responsibilities for these nurses are high. Nurses who care for patients in trauma or medical emergency, midwives who bring babies in the world, working with the mentally ill, or who enter a customer's house pose liability problems.
Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice
In the emergency department, patients represent all different levels of society, gender, and sexual orientation. Nursing staff must be aware that some patients do not see certain treatment modalities as acceptable
A professional nurse is one who puts the needs and importance of patient care above all others. While striving for professionalism, nurses need compassion, patience, empathy, strong moral and ethics, accountability and the commitment to always act in the best interest of their patients. Nurses are held accountable for providing quality, safe, and effective nursing care (Hood, 2014). A professional nurse has the responsibility to continually improve and implement nursing standards while maintaining integrity by involving themselves in various tasks. Regular involvement in reading professional literature and sharing of evidence- based research with other healthcare personal helps increase knowledge and skills. This nursing ability can be used to encourage the actions of others in the healthcare team resulting in improved patient care. Nurses should encourage each other to become involved in hospital committees, provide an environment to encourage the discussions of ethical dilemmas, promote professional growth of nurses to voice their concerns and share viewpoints to address issues. “A professional nurse should expect to commit to a life of continuous learning growth and development”. (Hood, 2014, pp. 29). Nurses choose this profession to help others. As professional nurses we must maintain our ethics, values, characteristics, and commitment to drive our profession forward (CCN, 2015). Nurses must be autonomous, accountable, and be able to delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel. Being autonomous as a nurse means having control over their practice (Hood, 2014). It allows a nurse to take risks while being held accountable for ones’ actions (Hood, 2014).
A nursing intervention that I would use for my family would be to educate the mother and father on the benefits of breastfeeding. This educational session will be helpful to the family since they are currently unsure on whether or not they should breastfeed or bottle feed. The benefits of breastfeeding that have an impact on the mother consists of having lower rates of breast and ovarian cancer, decrease risk of hemorrhage after birth, and lower risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease (London, M. et al., 2017). The benefits for the baby are that it contains antibodies that protect infants, the breast milk is easier to digest than formula, and it lowers the risk of SIDS which stands for sudden infant death syndrome (London, M. et al., 2017). Another nursing intervention that I would do for my patient is to talk with them and figure out the reasons why they are so nervous about taking the baby home.
Thus, emergency physicians cannot rely on earned trust or on prior knowledge of the patient's condition, values, or wishes regarding medical treatment. The patient's willingness to seek emergency care and to trust the physician is based on institutional and professional assurances rather than on an established personal relationship. Fourth, emergency physicians practice in an institutional setting, the hospital emergency department, and in close working relationships with other physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and other health care professionals. Thus, emergency physicians must understand and respect institutional regulations and inter-professional norms of conduct. Fifth, in the United States, emergency physicians have been given a unique social role and responsibility to act as health care providers of last resort for many patients who have no other feasible access to care. Sixth, emergency physicians have a societal duty to render emergency aid outside their normal health care setting when such intervention may save life or limb. Finally, by virtue of their broad expertise and training, emergency physicians are expected to be a resource for the community in pre-hospital care, disaster management, toxicology, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, public health, injury control, and related areas. All of these special circumstances shape the
There are many different variations of healthcare professionals that assist people in regaining and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The career field of licensed nursing is often considered to be one of the most vital professions within the medical community. Registered nurses work to prevent and heal various different types of injuries, diseases, and illnesses. They are also responsible for administering a variety of patient services, consisting of individual patient care, analyzing and monitoring patient medical reports, and also possessing the ability to operate technical medical equipment. As well as, be able provide comfort and emotional support for both physically, and mentally ill patients. All Registered Nurses are responsible for providing patients with quality health care, in compliance with professional standards set forth by the American Nurses Association. As the field continues to rapidly evolve, an increase in responsibility is placed upon registered nurses to maintain a professional standard of care. With the increase in responsibility, the role of registered nurses consistently changes to accommodate individual patient needs. As a result, the rise in responsibility placed on registered nurses correlates to a higher probability of malpractice and negligence occurring within the community. The consequences of malpractice and negligence can