Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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Each year, more than 130,000 children younger than 13 years are treated in the emergency department after evaluation of injuries sustained from motor vehicle crashes (MVCs). Many of these injuries can be prevented with use of child restraints. In this study we sought to assess emergency nurses' knowledge of child passenger safety (CPS) and its use to keep children safe while traveling in motor vehicles.
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PROBLEM: Rapid diagnosis of seasonal influenza leads to optimized clinical care and reduces the spread of infection. The collection of adequate cellular material can be facilitated by the presence of moisture in the nares. The specific aim of this project was to determine if the installation of sterile saline into the nares prior to specimen collection would improve the quality of the specimen. ⋯ The results appear somewhat equivocal. Because viral shedding declines after the first 48 to 72 hours in adults, the wet swab method may be clinically superior for detecting influenza in adults presenting later in the course of their illness. Hospital policy was revised for consistency in using the gel medium before sampling in accordance with manufacturer recommendations.
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Unrelieved acute musculoskeletal pain continues to be a reality of major clinical importance, despite advancements in pain management. Accurate pain assessment by nurses is crucial for effective pain management. Yet inaccurate pain assessment is a consistent finding worldwide in various clinical settings, including the emergency department. In this study, pain assessments between nurses and patients with acute musculoskeletal pain after extremity injury will be compared to assess discrepancies. A second aim is to identify patients at high risk for underassessment by emergency nurses. ⋯ Underassessment of pain by emergency nurses is still a major problem and might result in undertreatment of pain if the emergency nurses rely on their assessment to provide further pain treatment. Strategies that focus on awareness among nurses of which patients are at high risk of underassessment of pain are needed.
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Many patient visits to emergency departments result in the patient dying or being pronounced dead on arrival. The numbers of deaths in emergency departments are likely to increase as a significant portion of the U. ⋯ Consequently, emergency nurses face many obstacles to providing quality end-of-life (EOL) care when death occurs. The purpose of this study was to identify suggestions that emergency nurses have to improve EOL care, specifically in rural emergency departments.