Communication Flashcards
What is triage
Triage Scale
Time of Triage
Triage is the assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a large number of patients or causalities
Gather history and assessment of patient and grade them on Australasian Triage Scale (ATS)
Triage should be less than 5 min per patient - include pertinent information to correctly stream patient into the department
What is the Australasian Triage Scale?
ATS grades patients on a scale of 1-5 to determine who requires care more urgently
Cat 1 = Immediately life threatening (Immediately seen)
Cat 2 = Imminently life threatening (Up to 10 min)
Cat 3 = Potentially life threatening (Up to 30 min)
Cat 4 = Potentially life serious or situational urgency (Up to 60 min)
Cat 5 = Less urgent (up to 2 hrs)
Emergency Department Information System (EDIS)
ieMR
EDIS - Used by ~50% Queensland hospitals
ieMR - Used in most hospitals in Queensland
What is ‘the hook’?
The hook is a few simple short words describing overall primary complaint of the patient
e.g. shortness of breath, chest pain, suicidal idealization, fall from standing height
Handover Mnemonic - IMIST AMBO
I - Identification M - Mechanism of injury/medical complaint I - Injuries/info relevant S - Signs T - Treatment and trends
A - Allergies
M - Medication
B - Background
O - Other
Standard bedside handover
1-2 nurses maybe doctor
Full IMIST AMBO handover + Questions
Involve the patient
Resus room handover
Pre-assembled resus team including 3+ emergency nurses, 1-2 emergency doctors, specialist teams and other services (social, radiology)
Speak Loud, Clear and Slow
When reporting traumatic injuries take a head to toe approch
‘Hands off’ handover
When the patient is not transferred to hospital bed or any further procedures completed until the handover is complete
* Unless patient is too unstable to wait
Additional information to provide
Only medical professional to see living environment of the patient therefore add details if further services may be required
Pre-notification
When to use?
Phoning ahead of arrival to warn hospital of patient coming in
Use when patient is critically unwell, patient requires specialist team, patient is likely to require immediate medication, treatment or assessment or any other situation where patient is likely to need a resus room
Pre-notify process
Call hospital using vehicle phone Identify self and vehicle number Identify patient 'Hook' with brief elabotation Key vital signs Treatment commenced Relevant history ETA including road speed or lights and sirens
Update hospital of any changes if possible
Purpose of documentation
Clinical record
- Useful tool for monitoring patient clinical status and evaluating response to treatment
- Promotes continuity of care
Research, education and strategic planning
- May be used by health care agency to review service delivery and resource allocation
- Can be used within boundaries of confidentiality for education and professional development
Legal record of evidence
Content of a health record
Indicates reason for service or admission to hospital
Enables patient to receive effective continuing care
Effective communication between health care professionals
Standards for documentation
Factual (objective)
Accurate
Complete (all patient details, observations and times, accepted abbreviations only and signed by author)
Timely (complete contemporaneously of event described)
Situation Reports (SITREP)
Contain following information
- Hazards/safety issues at scene/incident
- Most appropriate safe approach and entry to scene
- Requirement for additional resources
- Requirement for additional allied health services (QFRS or QPS)
- No. patients involved and requiring transport
- Clinical condition of patients
- Any potential delays on scene
