Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Influenza is highly contagious, vaccine-preventable, and may result in significant morbidity and mortality. While vaccination is the primary protection against influenza, vaccination rates remain low. Traditionally, primary care clinics, retail pharmacies, and public health departments offer influenza vaccines. However, offering influenza vaccines in new settings may increase their availability to the public and increase community uptake. This project aimed to add emergency departments as a new influenza vaccine location to increase the number of vaccines distributed during the 2020 to 2021 influenza season. ⋯ The project demonstrated that delivering influenza vaccinations in emergency departments is challenging yet achievable. Educational offerings were valuable resources to increase nurses' knowledge and positive attitudes about providing influenza vaccines to patients. Further studies regarding how vaccinations could be provided in more emergency departments and alternative care sites, such as urgent care and clinics other than primary care providers, are needed.
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Pediatric port access can be challenging in the emergency department; however, it must be performed promptly and safely. Port education for nurses traditionally includes procedural practice on adult-size, tabletop manikins, which lacks the situational and emotional aspects inherent in pediatrics. The purpose of this foundational study was to describe the knowledge and self-efficacy gain from a simulation curriculum that promotes effective situational dialogue and sterile port access technique, while incorporating a wearable port trainer to enhance simulation fidelity. ⋯ Effective port access education for nurses requires a comprehensive curriculum integrating procedural aspects and situational techniques to address the components of a true port access experience involving pediatric patients and families. Our curriculum successfully combined skill-based practice with situational management, and promoted nursing self-efficacy and competence with port access in the pediatric population.
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The purpose of this quality improvement study was to reduce nonemergent visits to the emergency department attendance within a multistate Veterans Health Affairs network. ⋯ Telephone triage services augmented by virtual provider visits may reduce emergency department disposition rates, resulting in fewer nonemergent patient presentations to the emergency department and reducing unnecessary emergency department overcrowding. Reducing nonemergent attendance to emergency departments can improve outcomes for patients with emergent dispositions.
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The aim of this study is to evaluate undergraduate college students' attitude changes toward distracted driving after participating in a multifaceted distracted driving prevention program. ⋯ The intervention helped promote negative attitudes toward distracted driving in a sample of college students immediately after participating in a distracted driving prevention program.