Australasian emergency nursing journal : AENJ
-
Australas Emerg Nurs J · Nov 2014
Observational StudyAudit improves emergency department triage, assessment, multi-modal analgesia and nerve block use in the management of pain in older people with neck of femur fracture.
The use of NBs as a mode of analgesia for #NOF in the ED is not common practice despite the reported clinical benefits of quicker onset of pain relief, decreased use of additional analgesia and decreased amounts of analgesia required when more than one mode of analgesia is prescribed. ⋯ The number of older people with #NOF presenting to the ED in Australia is increasing and historically, pain management in this group of patients could be improved. This study demonstrated that an audit, intervention and re-audit design that focused on the implementation of educational and promotional strategies informed by evidence on current and best practice standards were successful in improving delivery of analgesia to elderly patients with #NOF in the ED.
-
With ever increasing demands on emergency services it is necessary to consider how to enhance the recruitment and retention of emergency nurses in public hospitals. Personality is known to influence occupational choice, yet there is a lack of research exploring how personality may influence the workforce decisions of emergency nurses. ⋯ The personality profile of this sample of emergency nurses is different to the population norm. Assessment of personality and knowledge of its influence on specialty selection may assist in improving retention and recruitment in emergency nursing.
-
Australas Emerg Nurs J · Nov 2014
Medication errors in ED: Do patient characteristics and the environment influence the nature and frequency of medication errors?
Medication safety is of increasing importance and understanding the nature and frequency of medication errors in the Emergency Department (ED) will assist in tailoring interventions which will make patient care safer. The challenge with the literature to date is the wide variability in the frequency of errors reported and the reliance on incident reporting practices of busy ED staff. ⋯ Medication errors related to patient identification, allergy status and medication omissions occur more frequently in the ED when the ED is busy, has sicker patients and when the staffing is not at the minimum required staffing levels.