Nursing Accountability Paper
Nursing Accountability to Implement Change Based on the Evidence for Practice
Grand Canyon University: NRS 437V
August 28, 2011
Introduction In this paper, I will review and implement recommendations based on the findings of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) regarding the training of hospital staff to respond to a mass casualty incident (MCI). I will give examples and situations that can affect the effectiveness of proper training and responses to a traumatic event in our city, county, state, or country. For years, hospitals have contemplated the possibility of a mass casualty incident (MCI). Federal agencies planning and responding to these events have determined that …show more content…
My hospital, BAMC, a military hospital, has complied with the training and has made significant contributions to the evolution and preparedness in response to a potential or actual event. The military has always been an integral part in training and preparation in regards to logistics and coordination of available resources, but even the best trained or better equipped hospitals cannot compensate for the impact it has on its employees, particularly nurses. Nurses take part and are an important aspect of training and preparation, and they are essential in the response to a crisis or trauma. Working in the emergency department, I often question myself as to how is it that we can train and prepare every year for a mass casualty incident (MCI) when I can see how easily we get overrun and in total disarray. Our hospital is currently capable of taking up to four major traumas all at the same time, but the reality is that even under the best staffed days we get overwhelmed, resourcing quickly to diversion of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to other hospitals when we have reached maximum capacity. If training then is to prepare us and allow us to be well equipped with the necessary knowledge to perform, why is it that we struggle under small real life case scenarios? The response has to be once again in the level of …show more content…
Nurses need to remain creative in finding ways to document what has been done to a patient with regards of his or her care. In a war zone, we can document key components of patient treatment on the uniforms of soldiers, and the same can be done with civilian population in the absence of computers or charting for short periods of time. Another important aspect is the transport of first aid equipment and supplies as soon as the disaster is identified, including body bags, stretchers, wheelchairs, crutches, splints, IV solutions, blood products, antibiotics, and plenty of analgesics and narcotics. Keeping an adequate number of chaplains, counselors, and security is imperative for the emergency department to maintain order under the chaos and
Grand Canyon University: NRS 437V
August 28, 2011
Introduction In this paper, I will review and implement recommendations based on the findings of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) regarding the training of hospital staff to respond to a mass casualty incident (MCI). I will give examples and situations that can affect the effectiveness of proper training and responses to a traumatic event in our city, county, state, or country. For years, hospitals have contemplated the possibility of a mass casualty incident (MCI). Federal agencies planning and responding to these events have determined that …show more content…
My hospital, BAMC, a military hospital, has complied with the training and has made significant contributions to the evolution and preparedness in response to a potential or actual event. The military has always been an integral part in training and preparation in regards to logistics and coordination of available resources, but even the best trained or better equipped hospitals cannot compensate for the impact it has on its employees, particularly nurses. Nurses take part and are an important aspect of training and preparation, and they are essential in the response to a crisis or trauma. Working in the emergency department, I often question myself as to how is it that we can train and prepare every year for a mass casualty incident (MCI) when I can see how easily we get overrun and in total disarray. Our hospital is currently capable of taking up to four major traumas all at the same time, but the reality is that even under the best staffed days we get overwhelmed, resourcing quickly to diversion of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to other hospitals when we have reached maximum capacity. If training then is to prepare us and allow us to be well equipped with the necessary knowledge to perform, why is it that we struggle under small real life case scenarios? The response has to be once again in the level of …show more content…
Nurses need to remain creative in finding ways to document what has been done to a patient with regards of his or her care. In a war zone, we can document key components of patient treatment on the uniforms of soldiers, and the same can be done with civilian population in the absence of computers or charting for short periods of time. Another important aspect is the transport of first aid equipment and supplies as soon as the disaster is identified, including body bags, stretchers, wheelchairs, crutches, splints, IV solutions, blood products, antibiotics, and plenty of analgesics and narcotics. Keeping an adequate number of chaplains, counselors, and security is imperative for the emergency department to maintain order under the chaos and