Emergency Nurse最新文献

The use of conducted energy devices - better known under the brand name Taser - by police officers is subject to scrutiny. Consequently, the clinical assessment and management of people who have been exposed to Taser discharge is also subject to scrutiny. In 2021 the Conducted Energy Device Joint Working Group published a new guideline on assessment in police custody after Taser discharge. The guideline enables any appropriately trained and competent healthcare professional, including nurses, to undertake post-Taser assessments and determine the person's fitness to be detained in police custody. This would be done in the first instance by nurses working in police custody suites, but emergency department (ED) nurses may also be involved, as people who have been 'tasered' may need referral to the ED. This article explains how Tasers work, their physiological effects and potential complications, and the required approaches to clinical assessment and management as outlined in the new guideline.

Snake bites are a relatively rare presentation to emergency departments in the Western world. In the UK, there were 510 cases of snake bites between 2004 and 2010. However, it is important that nurses are aware of how to assess and manage these presentations and understand the importance of ascertaining information on factors such as the type of snake involved and how long the snake was biting the patient for. This article uses a case study to discuss the assessment and management of snake bites, and provides information on the steps nurses should take to manage patients presenting with a snake bite.

Background: One of the reasons why patient safety may be put at risk during healthcare interventions is a lack of staff adherence to patient safety guidelines. There could be a relationship between staff's adherence to patient safety guidelines and their perceived level of reward for their work and/or motivation.

Aim: To examine the relationship between reward and adherence to patient safety guidelines, and between motivation and adherence to patient safety guidelines, among nurses working in emergency departments (EDs) in Indonesia.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study of 101 nurses working in the EDs of four hospitals in Indonesia. Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect data on the level of reward participants felt they received for their work, the level of participants' motivation for their work, and participants' adherence to patient safety guidelines. Spearman's rank correlation testing was used to determine the relationships between variables.

Results: There was a statistically significant negative relationship between reward and adherence (P=0.019, r=-0.233), which meant that those who perceived their reward as low were more likely to adhere to patient safety guidelines than those who felt they were highly rewarded. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between motivation and adherence to patient safety guidelines (P=0.017, r=0.236), which meant that the higher the motivation, the higher participants' level of adherence to patient safety guidelines.

Conclusion: Ensuring ED nurses are motivated for their work by offering rewards - such as a decent salary, a supportive workplace environment and career progression opportunities - is important to enhance their adherence to patient safety guidelines.

Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited blood disorders characterised by atypical haemoglobin molecule structures (haemoglobin S) which can manifest as painful vaso-occlusive crises, chronic anaemia and progressive organ damage. This article aims to raise greater awareness of sickle cell disease, its acute manifestations and the potential for rapid clinical deterioration that can occur in patients with this condition. The article outlines the main aspects of the assessment and management of patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with vaso-occlusive crisis, describes the barriers to effective care that they commonly experience and explains how their care could be improved. The authors emphasise the importance of timely management of these patients by ED staff, including emergency nurses.