How Not to Kill Your Patient

Good documentation allows for a retrospective understanding of a patient's condition when they arrived and how it has progressed. Vital signs are particularly critical as they reveal trends and can help detect potential issues. But here's the real challenge, finding that sweet spot between meeting the demands of documentation and actually delivering hands-on care. We'll break down the struggle and explore how emergency nurses can balance both worlds.

Join Kevin and Dr. Wolf as they dig deep into the importance of accurate documentation in capturing a patient's journey and keeping the entire healthcare team in the loop. Plus, we'll touch on the legal side of things and how thorough charting can save your bacon if any legal issues arise.

In this episode, Lisa and Kevin have a special guest, Annie Fulton, from Up My Nursing Game. Join us as we dive into the topic of delirium, a commonly overlooked and misdiagnosed condition in emergency departments with serious implications for patients.

In this episode, we'll explore delirium identification, effective treatment options, and discuss how the emergency department can set the stage for success throughout a patient's hospital visit.

This episode is part of the 2023 Nurses' PodCrawl, a collaboration between different podcast hosts who come together for a week to release episodes around one unifying theme. The goal is to provide varying perspectives on a single theme.

Check out these other delirium episodes from amazing podcasts:

• Walking Home from the ICU
• Cup of Nurses
• Good Nurse Bad Nurse
• FreshRN
• The Rapid Response RN

In this episode, Kevin and Dr. Wolf delve into the crucial topic of assessing and addressing changes in mental status. Mental status changes can be alarming and could be a result of various underlying medical conditions, which require prompt evaluation and management.

During the episode, we will provide a comprehensive review of the most common causes of changes in the level of consciousness (LOC). By identifying the root cause, emergency nurses can better diagnose and manage patients effectively. To aid in memory retention, Kevin and Dr. Wolf share two helpful mnemonics that will assist in remembering the most critical causes of mental status changes.

This episode is a little different, In this episode, Kevin and Dr. Wolf have a conversation about a viral video showing a healthcare worker striking a patient who spits on him. This video had a lot of mixed reactions from healthcare workers online. Give it a listen and see how we think this is just a symptom of bigger problems.

Links to a couple of articles mentioned in the Episode:

NOTHING CHANGES, NOBODY CARES: Authors: Lisa A. Wolf, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, Altair M. Delao, MPH, and Cydne Perhats, MPH, hthttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0099176713005618

Here is a link to some of the amazing articles by Dr. Gordon Gillespie Check them out. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&q=gordon+gillespie+workplace+violence&oq=gordon+gillespie

How Not to Kill your Patient. Just how vital are vital signs? In this episode, Lisa and Kevin talk about how vital signed effect your triage designation.

In this episode, Kevin and Dr. Wolf talk about emergency nurses floating out to the department into other areas. Hopefully, this doesn't happen often but we talk about what to expect when it happens and how not to kill your floor patients.

Kevin and Dr. Wolf discuss communication with providers and communicating a great hand-off. This information just might save your patient's life. Enjoy.

If you are interested in the report sheet click here

In this episode, Kevin and Dr. Wolf provide a little feedback to a question that was posted online by a new grad nurse. If you have clinical questions you would like to have discussed send a message to Kevin on social media or by email [email protected].

We think of the obstetric patient as a special population, one that we want to get the heck out of our EDs ASAP. However, lots of Obstetric units have closed, and in the current climate after Dobbs, patients will have a hard time getting good care, whether they want to be pregnant or not. Guess where all those patients are going to go? Exactly. Your ED. Have a listen on recognizing and managing OB and postpartum emergencies.

Links mentioned in the episode:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp2207423

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/emtala-v-state-abortion-laws-navigating-6251610/

https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Texas-Complaint.pdf

In this episode, Kevin and Dr. Wolf talk about assessing and addressing pain in the emergency department. This is the episode that will help new and even experienced emergency nurses to see the pain assessment in a whole new light.