Trauma Life

Nurses Need Care Too

July 6, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

People look to nurses to fix their wounds, listen to their problems, and help the get better when they are sick. Nurses are almost indestructible in the eyes of many; however, what we fail to recognize is how stressful their jobs are. Nurses work very long hours, in environments that are often short-handed, and subjected to constant life and death situations. As such, many of our nurses, stressed to the max, are in danger of burning from their jobs. Nurses need help too and, as a nurse, you must know where to go when you need help.

It is critically important that nurses be taught the symptoms of stress. By catching stress early, it can be addressed easily with rest and relaxation. It is those nurses who keep going in spite of their stress level, that end up in the worst situations. If you are feeling the stress of your job, it is time to take a short break. Often, even a weekend off will help.

It is a sad fact that there are not a lot of resources for nurses. All nurses are encouraged to find a good counselor to meet with . They should also have a general practitioner to discuss the physical symptoms of stress. Hopefully, hospitals and doctors will begin to recognize just how much pressure is placed on nurses and will work to discuss the situation.

As nurses, we often feel that we have to be strong all the time. It may be that we need to take our own advice and learn that everyone needs a break sometimes.

Filed Under: Trauma Life Tagged With: Health, Nurse, Nursing

The Importance of Certified Nursing Assistants in a Hospital Setting

June 20, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Image by Lower Columbia College via Flickr

Certified nursing assistants are the life-blood of the hospital; unfortunately, they are vastly underpaid when compared to the nurses they work with. There are obvious reasons as to why this is the case. The most obvious reason being because of the difference in schooling and training; of which nurses have a lot of more.

However, certified nursing assistants do a great deal of work around the hospital that help make things much easier for nurses. When you stay an extended period of time in the hospital, chances are you will see more of your CNA than anyone else. Below is a list of some of the more common things that fall under a CNAs responsibility.

Patient Cleaning and Bathing

When a patient has been in a hospital for over a day, it is hospital procedure for the nurses and CNAs to offer cleaning services. In some cases, patients turn down the bathing, and if done enough, they will be required to bathe regardless of their preferences in order to prevent problematic side-effects. Generally, the CNA is responsible for ensuring the patient is bathed and clean.

Patient Comfort

Among one of the most prevalent responsibilities of the CNA is to ensure patients are comfortable. This consists of anything from rubbing lotion on the patient to bringing them a beverage.

Responding to Call Lights

CNAs are the primary responder when a patient rings a call light. It is their responsibility to respond and deal with the patient prior to letting the nurse know anything.

Filed Under: Trauma Life Tagged With: Hospital, Patient, Unlicensed assistive personnel

The Demands of a Nurse in the Emergency Room

May 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Lives are saved in hospital emergency rooms. When a student enrolls in a healthcare-related subject at American Intercontinental University, his or her career future is bright and the learning begins. When on a path to become a nurse, understanding the demands of a hospital emergency room helps in preparing for this very important life-saving career.

The Purpose of the Emergency Room

Anyone who has gone to the emergency room of a hospital has witnessed the process first-hand. The role of the healthcare practitioners who receive patients in an emergency room is to quickly gauge the relative urgency of the care needed. A student who attends American Intercontinental University in preparation for a future in healthcare may have a certain image in mind of the career that is to come. Television shows paint a particular picture of the work of emergency room nurses. The reality of the emergency room is typically calmer than presented in these shows.

The Work of an Emergency Room Nurse

Nurses greet patients and ask them important questions to determine how quickly they must be admitted to see the doctor. The nurse may take a patient’s blood pressure or conduct other tests prior to the doctor’s entry. If a patient has been through intense trauma, for example in a car accident, the doctor is immediately called in and the role of the nurse is to document the doctor’s findings. The trauma nurse also administers fluids, blood products and physician-recommended medications.

An emergency room nurse must stay calm throughout the entire process, treating patients quickly and compassionately.

Filed Under: Trauma Life Tagged With: American Intercontinental University, Emergency department, Health care

Hospital Wait Times

November 23, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

If you have a medical emergency, you may not be able to avoid going to the hospital during a busy time. Many people are concerned about how long their wait at the hospital is going to be, and even if they will get decent care if the hospital is busy. Many people try to wait until they think the hospital may be a little less busy, before they head out. Unfortunately for many, the times that patients may think would not be as busy are some of the worst times to end up in the hospital.

Weekends and holidays show significantly higher numbers of people going to the hospital. There are many theories for this. First, your usual doctor may not be available on the weekend. Therefore, many people who get sick or have other medical problems will head straight to the hospital on the weekend. On top of that, people tend to do more dangerous things on the weekends, than during the week. For example, a family may wait until the weekend to go hiking. If someone were to fall on the hike, and twist their ankle, they may need to go to the hospital. Holidays are very similar to weekends in these cases. More people tend to get together, and someone may end up getting hurt. If your doctor’s office is not open on the holiday, you may head to the ER. There tend to be more people on the roads on weekends and holidays, as well. This can contribute to more car accidents, and therefore more hospital visits.

If you are worried about wait times at your hospital, you may also want to check online. Many hospitals today will post their current wait times. If it is not a life or death situation, you may be able to find a hospital near you with a shorter wait time.

Filed Under: Trauma Life Tagged With: ER, Health, Hospital

Americans Choosing the Emergency Room Instead of Primary Care

October 18, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Emergency rooms across the nation are jam packed with people. Why? The answer lies within the nation’s behavior during previous years. Patients seem to be flocking to the emergency room, rather than visiting their primary care physicians. Only 159 million out of 354 million acute care appointments are made with primary care physicians. Instead, patients are going directly to emergency rooms, specialists’ offices, or outpatient care facilities for new issues and incidents or flare-ups of chronic illnesses like asthma or diabetes. Basically, Americans are disregarding their primary care physicians and are treating emergency rooms like primary care more and more these days.

New evidence indicates that more than 25 percent of acute care visits in America are made at emergency rooms. Since America’s emergency facilities are seriously short-staffed and overwhelmed, this isn’t the greatest news, according to a recent article in Health Affairs. Less than five percent of physicians are emergency doctors, but they are handling nearly 30 percent of all acute care across the country. Over half of acute care visits involving uninsured and underinsured patients are managed by emergency docs.

Steven Pitts, MD, Emory School of Medicine’s associate professor of medicine and an Emory University Hospital physician stated that immediate access to care is critical, especially so for patients who are acutely ill. Over recent decades, the spotlight of primary care has shifted because of a rapidly growing elderly populace, chronic disease increase, and patients needing care from numerous physicians. Dropping reimbursement rates have pressured doctors to cram in as many patients as possible in 15-minute intervals resulting in limited time for acute care patients.
This evidence was gathered between 2001 through 2004, showing over one billion outpatient visits were made each year to physicians. Only 321 visits per 1,000 patients occurred each month. Over 350 million instances each year were for new issues or flare-ups from chronic conditions. Of all acute care visits 10 percent were handled by internists, 22 percent by primary care physicians, 13 percent by pediatricians, and 20 percent by specialists. The remaining 28 percent of visits were tended to in emergency rooms.

Filed Under: Trauma Life Tagged With: Medicine, Primary care, United States

Next Generation Making Patient Safety a Priority

September 28, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

In the September issue of “Health Affairs’, Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC, stated the coming generation of medical personnel will forge an atmosphere of patient safety and impact the medical community through mentoring faculty and colleagues.

Kirch’s article, co-written with Philip G. Boysen, University of North Carolina’s, or UNC’s, executive associate dean of graduate medical education, indicates that available classes where patient safety is the main focus have increased over the last few years. Additional classes are needed. Both Kirch and Boysen believe that patient safety training should be a continual learning process that’s sprinkled throughout a medical student’s education and real-life experiences within clinical settings.

To achieve such a high-level of safety consciousness, medical schools and health systems will have to work together like never before. Kirch and Boysen suggested five areas where improvement is necessary to achieve such a massive change. These are: team work among healthcare personnel; emphasis on safety during residencies; leadership from upper levels; student contribution; and health information technology. Improvements in these areas will lead medical personnel to offer better care for patients overall, but especially at bedside.

These five areas were emphasized and examined at UNC’s School of Medicine’s graduate medical education program. Many other scholastic medical centers are participating, along with UNC, in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality patients safety initiative known as Team STEPPS, or Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety, to see how focusing on these areas can improve patient results.

The curriculum offers patient safety training for health care personnel that’s customized for individual institutions and focuses on beneficial transformations. By adhering to Team STEPPS recommendations and guidelines, UNC has seen fewer infections in patients that originated during hospital stays and an overall increase in patient satisfaction. UNC currently has over two dozen patient safety trainers, many of which are resident physicians that will take their training into hospitals and clinics for the rest of their careers.

Filed Under: Trauma Life Tagged With: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Health care, Medicine