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Concept
Emergency nursing
Summary
Emergency nursing is a specialty within the field of professional nursing focusing on the care of patients who require prompt medical attention to avoid long-term disability or death. In addition to addressing "true emergencies," emergency nurses increasingly care for people who are unwilling or unable to get primary medical care elsewhere and come to emergency departments for help. In fact, only a small percentage of emergency department (ED) patients have emergency conditions such as a stroke, heart attack or major trauma. Emergency nurses also tend to patients with acute alcohol and/or drug intoxication, psychiatric and behavioral problems and those who have been raped.
Emergency nurses are most frequently employed in hospital emergency departments, although they may also work in urgent care centers, sports arenas, and on medical transport aircraft and ground ambulances.
Around the 1800s hospitals became more popular and there was a growth in emergency care. The first development of an emergency room was originally called the "First Aid Room." Originally, nurses only dressed wounds, applied eye ointments, treated minor burns with salves and bandages, and attended patients with minor illnesses like colds and sore throats. The rule of thumb was first in, first served, but there were many cases where some people were in more need of emergency care than others, and as the situation became more intolerable, one of the greatest medical developments came into perspective: triage.
For centuries triage had been used in war but was not yet established in the emergency department. The first time triage was referred to during a non-disaster situation was at Yale New Haven Hospital, Connecticut, United States in 1963, and since then has become developed and more defined.
Emergency nurses must be able to sit, stand, walk, reach, squat and lift throughout their eight- or twelve-hour shift. They must have good manual dexterity, hearing and vision.
Official source
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