ED 1 Flashcards
PURPOSE of an ED
to provide 24 hour
emergency care to patients who need urgent
medical care.
more likely to receive ED care
•patients aged 4 years and under (who make up 7% of the
population) accounted for 10% of presentations
•patients aged 65 and over (who make up 16% of the
population) accounted for 21% of presentations
• overall, males accounted for 49% of presentations and
females 51%.
Pre Hospital Care
Care provided to a person before or during transportation to hospital.
Pre Hospital Care includes
Pre-hospital care can range from simple first aid to
advanced emergency care.
Care providers may be paramedics, lay first responders,
nurses or physicians of varying backgrounds.
Challenges; fast-paced decision making, hazards faced
at incident scenes, resource limitations, environmental
challenges.
Nursing roles in ED
- Triage nurse
- Team leader nurse
- Resuscitation nurse
- Floor nurse
- Navigator
- Clinical Initiative Nurse (CIN)
- Nursing Unit Manager (NUM)
- Clinical Nurse Educator (CNE)
Multidisciplinary team in ED
(non nurse)
- Emergency Dr (EDMO)
- Clerical staff
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapist
- Social worker / Case manager
- Paramedics
- Wards men/Porter/SSO
- Radiographer / Radiologist
Triage
First contact
Should be a 3 minute process - TIME PRESSURE!
Single entry point for all incoming patients
to ensure
all patients are subjected to the same assessment
process. Consistency and Equity.
Why Triage?
Several patients will present at one time. Care should be initiated in response to clinical need rather then order of arrival. Not first come, first serve basis.
TRIAGE
PROCESS
On arrival all patients will be seen by a triage
nurse.
3 min assessment.
Gain a CHEIF complaint and level of URGENCY
All patient’s are given a CAT
Direct patient to the appropriate area in the department
TRIAGE ASSESSMENT
Establish the patient’s “CHIEF COMPLAINT”,
What has brought you into ED today? (Do not
diagnose at triage.)
You are gathering signs and symptoms.
Using subjective and objective info.
- brief hx of presenting illness or injury
- Vital signs
- Does the patient look unwell?
- Co morbidities
AUSTRALIAN TRIAGE SCALE ATS
CATEGORIES
Resuscitation, Emergency, Urgent, Semi-Urgent, Non-Urgent
Resuscitation
Code Colour Max
Waiting
Time
1 Red immediate
Emergency
Code
Colour
Max Waiting Time
2 Orange <10 min
Urgent
Code
Colour
Max Waiting Time
3 Green <30 min
