Journal of Emergency Nursing最新文献

Introduction: Behavioral health visits to emergency departments have increased, increasing the risk of patient violent agitation that may require restraints to control. Our objective was to determine whether using the Behavioral Activity Rating Scale and treatment recommendations matched to patient scores would affect the number of patients who required physical restraints during their stay in the emergency department.

Methods: In this quality improvement project, nursing performed Behavioral Activity Rating Scale assessments on all behavioral health patients who presented to the emergency department, occurring during triage and at regular intervals with vital signs. Data were collected for a period before implementation and compared with data collected after implementing the Behavioral Activity Rating Scale workflow. Patients who required restraints during their stay, patients who required 2 or more restraints during their stay, and timing of restraint application were analyzed.

Results: Results show a decrease in the number of patients who required restraints during their ED stay, decreasing from a rate of 8.7% to 7.0% (P = .02). There was also a decrease in the number of patients who required multiple restraints, from a rate of 82.2% to 27.2% (P < .001). There was no difference in the number of patients who required restraints 1 hour after their arrival before versus after intervention (P = .40).

Discussion: Early recognition of patient agitation is essential in appropriate treatment of that agitation. The Behavioral Activity Rating Scale assessment is an effective tool to quantify a patient's agitation level. When coupled with treatment recommendations or protocols, it may decrease restraint use in the emergency department.

Introduction: This study aimed to explore how nurses experience relational work in the emergency department.

Methods: A qualitative design with 34 focus group interviews using an abductive thematic analysis were completed for this study. Participants were recruited from an annual mandatory continuous learning program in 2020-2022 at 2 university hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark. We applied semistructured interviews in an instructor-supported reflection session on the topic "relational nursing care." Group discussion was supported by an interview guide addressing key elements of the nurse-patient relationship as described in the fundamentals of care framework.

Results: Acute care nurses' attention was primarily directed toward the initial patient assessment, rather than toward the later stages of the patient trajectory. Forming a relationship with the patient was highly individual and done at the discretion of each nurse. The key elements of relational nursing were not mutually exclusive, but the findings could be separated into biomedical and relational care, where biomedical tasks took precedence.

Discussion: Relational care in the emergency department is optional and individually performed. Moreover, emergency nurses lack a vocabulary to express this type of work. Consequently, there is a risk that patients' psychosocial needs are not sufficiently met. According to the emergency nurses participating in this study, nurses fall short when performing and describing relational care. Nurses need more knowledge to address the psychosocial patient needs during short-term hospital admissions. Relational care and patient centeredness also need to be acknowledged by nursing leaders and further developed.

Introduction: Although the ED triage function is a critical means of ensuring patient safety, core competencies for ED triage are not well defined in the literature. The purpose of the study was to identify and validate emergency triage nursing competencies and to develop a competency verification process.

Methods: A sample of 1181 emergency nurses evenly divided between roles with oversight of triage training and competency assessment (manager-level and staff nurses performing triage) completed an online survey evaluating competency elements that comprised the following in terms of frequency and importance, training modalities, and evaluation methods: expert assessment, clinical judgment, management of medical resources, communication, and timely decisions.

Results: Both manager-level and triage nurses agreed on the importance of the identified competencies. Gaps in training and evaluation were reported by both staff nurses and manager-level nurses. Triage nurses reported less training offered and less competency evaluation compared with manager-level nurses. Triage nurses reported performing all competencies more frequently and at higher level of competency than manager-level nurses reporting on triage nurse performance.

Discussion: This study provides both a standard set of triage competencies and a method by which to evaluate them. Managers and educators might consider this standard to establish initial triage role competency and periodic competency assessment per institutional guidelines. The gap in perceived education and evaluation suggests that standard education and evaluation processes be adopted across emergency departments.

Introduction: The literature highlights the importance of the needs of family members of critical patients in emergency departments. Understanding these needs helps to alleviate psychological distress and contribute to the patients' recoveries. This study aimed to examine the psychological distress and needs of family members of critical patients in emergency departments.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to collect data using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21, the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory for the Emergency Department, and the Needs Met Inventory questionnaire from a convenience sample of 170 family members of critical patients. Descriptive analysis and importance-performance analysis were applied to analyze the data.

Results: The results showed that 52.4% of family members reported mild to extremely severe levels of depression, 60% reported mild to extremely severe levels of anxiety, and 53.5% had mild to extremely severe levels of stress. Anxiety showed a significant negative correlation with comfort needs (r = -0.17) and support needs being met (r = -0.16). The importance-performance analysis showed that the coordinates for support needs were in quadrant IV, signifying a higher level of importance perceived by family members but a lower level of the needs being met.

Conclusion: Providing the assessment and necessary support to alleviate psychological distress will help enhance the ability of the emergency department to meet families' needs.