Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Patient falls in the emergency department are a unique patient safety issue because of the often challenging nature of the environment. As there are a variety of potential causative factors for patient falls in the emergency department, this project employed a multifactorial approach to prevent patient falls in a Level 1 trauma center emergency department (adult only) in an urban tertiary care teaching hospital. ⋯ A multifactorial approach was an effective strategy to decrease patient falls in the emergency department.
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There is a growing awareness among governments, communities, and health care agencies of the need to evaluate roles and competencies in disaster nursing. A validated instrument was developed to evaluate nurses' competencies for disaster response. ⋯ The Nurses' Disaster Response Competencies Assessment Questionnaire showed good internal consistency, adequate reproducibility, and appropriate feasibility for use to evaluate nurses' competencies for disaster response.
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Influenza is a burdensome and vaccine-preventable infectious disease. Lack of time was reported as a common barrier by Canadians who did not receive their influenza vaccine. Increasing convenient access to vaccination increases uptake, and a potential setting for vaccine administration is the emergency department, where long wait times are common. ⋯ Surveyed health care providers were supportive of ED influenza vaccination. However, this study revealed additional barriers that need to be addressed to effectively launch such a program.
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Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is an underdiagnosed cause of acute coronary syndrome that primarily impacts young women. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection as a cause of acute coronary syndrome is not rare and should not be overlooked. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection should be considered on the list of differential diagnosis of any chest pain occurring in young women with few typical risk factors. The purposes of this article are to broaden the understanding and increase awareness of spontaneous coronary artery dissection, specifically its diagnosis and clinical outcomes.