Weight Loss In Acute Care

By Kent R. Spitler, MSEd, RN, NREMT-P EMS Educator Charlotte, North Carolina Introduction Medication calculations can cause frustration for EMS providers. Math and pharmacology can make it difficult to succeed on course exams, in the clinical setting, and in the field. There is a solution to make medication calculations easier. The answer to this problem is simple by showing students how to perform calculations using a simple process. While there are plenty of good drug and solution textbooks, study guides, and presentations available showing the methods of medication calculations, It seems that it much of it causes mathematical confusion often called “math mental blocks” for many EMS

Bedside Medication Administration (BMV). A BMV system would be helpful in addressing the issue of drug administration. The system would work with a patient’s electronic medical record (EMR) to compile data on the patient’s medications. The program could alert the nurse the proper dosage and different vitals and laboratory results needed before administration. This system would be worth the financial investment because there has been occurrences of improper dosage and negligence of nighttime medication. Drugs are a crucial

There are several instances where a medical assistant will need to use math in the work place. The first that comes to mind is calculating doses of medication. Proper dosing is vital to the care of a patient. To low of a dose will result in the medication not working as it should. Too high of a dose can result in and overdose, which can, in some cases, cause permit harm or even death. Another instance where a Medical assistant would be required to use math is converting weight from pounds to kilograms. There are time when kilograms are preferred for the medical record. An example of this is when a medication calls for dosing based on kilograms. However, it is still widely common to used scales that only with the patient in pounds. therefore

Patient care technicians (PCT’s), formally known as nursing assistants, are the backbone to any nursing department. They create rapport with the patients and family members, as well as the nursing and medical staff. Some of the tasks PCT’s are responsible for include: obtaining and recording vital signs, collecting and labeling specimens, blood glucose specimen, and obtaining electrocardiograms (ECG). All these tasks are important and critical in an emergency. PCT’s designated to work in medical surgical floors may not remember the steps for obtaining a good ECG reading. Like the saying goes: if you don’t use it, you lose it. The most common reason ECG’s are misinterpreted is due to incorrect lead placement. PCT’s in critical settings such

rights, health, and safety of the patient.” This provision, identifying patients, medication safety are related because it is a nurse’s responsibility to protect the patient from harm and promote safety. Nurses are taught to use multiple checks before administering a drug and use two identifiers. These checks include checking the medication against the order when obtaining it, checking again when preparing the medication and the last check is done at the patient’s bedside prior to giving the medication. Also it is imperative to question any medication order that does not seem fit. The order should include a date, time, name of the medication, dosage strength, the route for

The lack of knowledge and confidence of obtaining a manual blood pressure is an ever growing issue in the healthcare field. This paper will outline the importance of taking a manual blood pressure accurately. Providing the proper blood pressure measurement can determine a patient’s care and outcome when in a healthcare facility. I will talk about the pros and cons of manual blood pressures and personal experience of this vital skill in the healthcare field. I will also provide some simple but effect ways to increase confidence and knowledge by just basic education. All of my information and numbers will be supported by using references and studies in the use of manual blood pressure monitoring.

I wanted to take a minute to thank Medi-Weightloss® for everything. I was brought up in a very tight-knit family, where we were taught to give back to the community, not only during the holidays but all year long. I have always dedicated time throughout the years to help raise money for great causes, such as the Saint Baldrick’s Special Olympics. Later in life, I became a police officer in Wilton, CT.

After the interview with my nurse manager, I came up with the PICO question which states: “Does the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system reduce the number of medication errors compared to the common paper system being used today?” This question is important and I selected it because the population that the Belvoir Community hospital serves includes army officers of all ages both active and retired including their spouses and children. This group includes two sub groups of highly vulnerable persons which include the very young and the very old, who have a high-risk effect for medication errors because the potential adverse drug event is three times greater than an adult hospitalized patient (Levine et al., 2001). CPOE is not a panacea, but it does represent an effective tool for bringing real-time, evidence-based decision support to physicians. Nurses are the last defense level of protection against medication errors, and are solely responsible for the dispensing, administering, and monitoring of medications. In healthcare, computers can be used to help facilitate clear and accurate communication between health care professionals. When using a CPOE system it allows physicians to type in prescriptions right into the device or computer which significantly lessens any mistakes that can occur when

This is especially important on those patients admitted with low mortality risk DRGs. This is accomplished by identifying and preventing, potentially avoidable complications and adverse events. For example, patients admitted for syncope and collapse secondary to dehydration will more than likely be placed on IV Fluids. One goal would be to hydrate the patient and reevaluate them throughout their hospitalization for improvement. However, if the patient’s intake and output is not monitored closely, the patient can become volume overloaded and develop symptoms similar to those seen with Right Sided Heart Failure. Once that happens, the patient will require additional medications and additional hospital days because of provider error of not placing an order for the Nurses to monitor his/her volume status.

Each year, roughly 1.5 million adverse drug events (ADEs) occur in acute and long-term care settings across America (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2006). An ADE is succinctly defined as actual or potential patient harm resulting from a medication error. To expound further, while ADEs may result from oversights related to prescribing or dispensing, 26-32% of all erroneous drug interventions occur during the nursing administration and monitoring phases (Anderson & Townsend, 2010). These mollifiable mishaps not only create a formidable financial burden for health care systems, they also carry the potential of imposing irreversible physiological impairment to patients and their families. In an effort to ameliorate cost inflation, undue detriment, and the potential for litigation, a multifactorial approach must be taken to improve patient outcomes. Key components in allaying drug-related errors from a nursing perspective include: implementing safety and quality measures, understanding the roles and responsibilities of the nurse, embracing technological safeguards, incorporating interdisciplinary collaborative efforts, and continued emphasis upon quality control.

Radley, D., Wasserman, M., Olsho, L., Shoemaker, S., Spranca, M., & Bradshaw, B. (2013). Reduction in medications errors in hospitals due to adop

When I say this, however, most people would picture the nurse giving the wrong medication due to lack of focus on the tasks at hand. While this could happen, I have noticed during my time at hospitals that the doctor orders are still hand written for the most part. Consequently, they can be very hard to be read legibly much less correctly translated into proper medication dosages. The first suggestion I would give to an organization would be that they required all orders to be submitted securely, by the doctors, to the pharmacy be electronic means.

I do believe that taking a patient's weight would be a beneficial part of the vital sign assessment. However, weight is a touchy subject and could offend many patient's and potentially cause patients to steer clear from the dental office. I think looking at the weight and discussing it in a nonjudgmental way could open communication between the patient and the hygienist. However, it could also break communication. Therefore, I think it is important to discuss the concern in regards to the patient's weight and to discuss dietary options to benefit the patient's overall health. Also, it is very important to discuss the impact of the current diet on the oral cavity and potential problems in the

Medication error is one of the biggest problems in the healthcare field. Patients are dying due to wrong drug or dosage. Medication error is any preventable incident that leads to inappropriate medication use or harms the patient while the medication is in the control of the health care professional,or patient (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2015). It is estimated about 44,000 inpatients die each year in the United States due to medication errors which were indeed preventable (Mahmood, Chaudhury, Gaumont & Rust, 2012). There are many factors that contribute to medication error. However, the most common that factors are human factors, right patient information, miscommunication of abbreviations, wrong dosage. Healthcare providers do not intend to make medication errors, but they happen anyways. Therefore, nursing should play a tremendous role to reduce medication error

Similarly to doctors and pharmacists, nurses also rely on the metric system and are required to convert measurements quickly. Many nurses deal with this daily through calculating IV drip rates. Most IV bags contain one thousand cubic centimeters of fluid. A doctor may order his/her nurse to administer one thousand cubic centimeters every 8 hours. This may not seem too difficult, but in order to do this a nurse has to precisely calculate the drip rate of the machine so that the patient gets the required amount of medication in the time frame the doctor suggests. In contrast, a smaller bag of IV fluid may require instruction to give a patient five hundred milligrams every thirty minutes (Boyd). Before calculating the drip rate of the small bag, a nurse would have to convert the original cubic centimeters to milligrams.