Accurate triage of patients in an emergency department is critical to timely care and patient safety.
Read these four clinical tips for triage nurses based on recent trends spotted by RSQ® Collaborative Triage Champion, Shelley Cohen, RN, MSN, CEN.
Imagine this scenario: You have been following this 22-year-old primigravida patient since she transferred into your practice at 18 weeks gestation. She tells you that she started her pregnancy weighing 195 pounds; it is now two weeks before her due date and she weighs 248 pounds.
She failed her 28-week glucose screen; after the 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test, she was diagnosed as being a gestational diabetic. Despite referrals to a dietitian and to the Diabetes Clinic, her blood sugar control and dietary compliance have not been good. At her prenatal visit last week, her fundal height was measured at 43 cm.
Every healthcare professional is familiar with the traditional learning methods of classroom lectures, texts, conferences and hands-on clinical training. For “experienced” older clinicians (like me) educated during the pre-internet era, these were the exclusive methods employed during college, medical/nursing school, internship, residency and beyond. You went to lectures, hit the books, and relied on the “watch one, do one, teach one” process of mastering new procedures.
With preeclampsia affecting 10% of all pregnancies and rates rising by 25% in the past two decades, it is important to test your knowledge and ensure that all your patients have a strong understanding of the dangers of preeclampsia. This is part II of a two-part series. Part I focused on definitions, risks, prevention and diagnosis of preeclampsia; part II focuses on HELLP syndrome, treatment, eclampsia, future risk and resources.
Our mission at The Sullivan Group is to positively change clinical practice, improve patient safety and reduce malpractice litigation. Because of this, we are often asked by clinical leaders and clients to explore the impact our RSQ® Solutions platform may have on other areas of the healthcare business. A Chief Nursing Officer with whom we have worked for the past several years connected with me at the 19th Annual NPSF Patient Safety Congress in Orlando, FL, with a similar inquiry. She asked if we had any evidence to support a relationship between our work with improving nursing competency/patient safety and nursing retention rates.
With preeclampsia affecting 10% of all pregnancies and rates rising by 25% in the past two decades, it is important to test your knowledge and ensure that all your patients have a strong understanding of the dangers of preeclampsia. This blog will be divided into a two-part series. Part I focuses on definitions, risks, prevention and diagnosis of preeclampsia; part II focuses on HELLP syndrome, preeclampsia treatment, eclampsia, future risk and resources.
Patients with mental health complaints are visiting emergency departments and urgent care centers at an increasing rate. It is imperative that triage staff are able to make rapid and safe decisions for these patients.
Rule #1: Make No Assumptions
Making assumptions in triage is dangerous. Our subconscious biases can lead to cognitive errors in the assessment of patients, particularly those who are agitated.
Over the last few years, many of our clients have expressed interest in demonstrating the impact that various system-wide performance improvement initiatives might have on patient outcomes or financial metrics. One of our colleagues from a large hospital system recently posed a similar question about triage. Like many initiatives, given there are so many variables in play, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint a cause and effect with triage; however, let’s explore four areas in which you could expect to see improvements with an efficient, safe triage process.
Patient experience is an area of healthcare that has a significant impact not only on an organization’s reimbursement, but also on a hospital’s professional liability (HPL) and exposure to litigation. As a result of recent regulatory changes from the Affordable Care Act, it appears that hospitals have become even more judicious in their allocation of resources to various internal initiatives. With this in mind, let’s explore recent evidence that supports a rational, targeted approach for impacting HCAHPS that should lead to an improvement in reimbursement and reduction in liability.
Triage is an essential part of any busy emergency department (ED), but one that is often taken for granted. While triage is not designed to determine the cause of the patient’s symptoms, it prioritizes the patient’s need to be seen by a provider. EDs often assume (possibly erroneously) that triage assessments are being performed correctly or that any errors in triage can be corrected when the medical screening is done. Both of these assumptions can lead to serious adverse patient events.
