Accident and emergency nursing
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A suicide note can be a very powerful communication to the family and friends of the deceased. However, in a number of cases a note is written by an individual who survives an apparent act of attempted suicide. These cases will frequently present at a hospital accident and emergency department (A&E) and will be classified as incidents of self-harm. ⋯ Using a large dataset collected over a 5-year period the authors compare note-leavers with self-harm patients who have not written a suicide note, focussing on the presence or absence of other known risk indicators for completed suicide in each of the two patient groups. The aim is to test the hypothesis that patients presenting at A&E with self-harm who have left a suicide note, are at higher risk of future completed suicide than are self-harm presenters who have not left a note. The conclusion reached is that clinical staff in the emergency department should err on the side of caution and regard the presence of a suicide note as an indication of a failed but serious attempt at suicide.
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Review Case Reports
Learning from practice--reflections on a critical incident.
Reflective practice is considered not only as a valuable tool for providing appropriate levels of care but also as an important prerequisite for the provision of professional nursing. Indeed, there appears to be consensus in the literature that reflections have the potential to assist practitioners to tap into knowledge gained from experience and connect theory to practice. However, evidence suggests that nurses, including emergency nurses, neglect reflective techniques. This paper outlines how the processes of reflection led to one emergency nurse developing new insights and understandings on nursing practice.
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Emergency medical care for seriously injured patients in war or warlike situations is highly important when it comes to soldiers' survival and morale. The Swedish Armed Forces sends nurses, who have limited experience of caring for injured personnel in the field, on a variety of international missions. The aim of this investigation was to identify the kind of criteria nurses rely on when assessing acute trauma and what factors are affecting the emergency care of injured soldiers. ⋯ The criteria nurses rely on, when assessing acute trauma in emergency care, could be described in terms of domain-specific criteria such as a physiological, an anatomical, a causal and a holistic approach as well as contextual criteria such as being able to communicate, having a sense of belonging, the military environment, the conscript medical orderly and familiarity with health-caring activity. The present study shows that the specific contextual factors affecting emergency care in the field must also be practised before the nurse faces military emergency care situations. This calls for realistic exercises and training programs, where experience from civilian emergency care is interwoven with the knowledge specific to military medical care.
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Patients die from sepsis. Reports of mortality as high as 50% are associated with patients who have severe sepsis. ⋯ The sepsis resuscitation bundle is discussed in depth as its goals can be achieved within the emergency department. A number of relevant web sites are provided that guide interested readers to other information on the Surviving Sepsis Campaign.
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Receiving a patient handover from an ambulance crew occurs many times during the day across the country. Handover has major implications for subsequent patient care but there has been little investigation of the handover process between ambulance and emergency department staff. ⋯ Suggestions are made for improving handovers by developing national guidelines and by incorporating handover in emergency department education.