The Deteriorating Patient
A sudden change in this vital sign is often the earliest, most sensitive indicator of clinical decompensation.
What is respiratory rate?
These required checks must occur every time before administering any medication at the bedside
What are the 7 rights of medication administration?
Under state board rules, this component of the nursing process (A-D-P-I-E) can never be delegated to unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP).
What is assessment or evaluation?
This stage describes a localized area of intact skin with non-blanchable erythema over a bony prominence.
What is a stage 1 pressure ulcer?
Patricia Benner's novice-to-expert model categorizes new graduates in their first year primarily at this developmental level.
What is advanced beginner?
This four-letter communication framework ensures critical clinical concerns are escalated succinctly to a provider
What is SBAR?
When administering IV push loop diuretics like Furosemide, pushing too rapidly puts the patient at risk for this toxicity
What is ototoxicity / permanent hearing loss?
These guidelines—right task, right circumstance, right person, right direction, right supervision—govern bedside delegation.
What are the 5 rights of delegation?
To prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter hubs should be scrubbed with friction for at least this long.
What is 15 seconds?
Coined by Judy Duchscher, this term describes the acute anxiety and sensory overload felt during the first 1–4 months on the unit.
What is transition shock?
This clinical syndrome involves a dysregulated host response to infection, defined by qSOFA criteria like altered mental status and low SBP.
What is Sepsis?
This reversal agent must be immediately accessible whenever a patient is receiving continuous opioid PCA infusions.
What is naloxone / Narcan?
When an assigned task cannot be safely completed, the final legal accountability for patient care remains with this individual.
What is a registered nurse?
A sudden gush of >100 mL/hr of bright red blood from a mediastinal or chest drainage tube warrants this immediate action.
What is notifying the provider/surgeon STAT?
This structured institutional requirement involves evaluating bedside performance against evidence-based practice (EBP) metrics.
What is an Evidence-Based Practice / Quality Improvement project?
When a patient’s telemetry displays wide-complex ventricular tachycardia and they are pulseless, this is the immediate priority intervention.
What is defibrillation / CPR?
Insulin, heparin, and concentrated electrolytes belong to this ISMP drug class requiring independent double-checks.
What are high alert medications?
This federal privacy regulation is violated if a nurse accesses an electronic chart of a patient not assigned to their care.
What is HIPAA?
This type of wound drainage is clear, watery, and slightly yellow, often seen in normal inflammatory stages of healing.
What is serous exudate?
Engaging in regular exercise, peer debriefing, and setting strict boundaries between work and home prevents this syndrome.
What is burnout/compassion fatigue?
This bedside nursing phenomenon occurs when subtle changes across several hours combine into a sense that "something is just not right.
What is clinical intuition/pattern recognition?
Trough levels for this glycopeptide antibiotic must be drawn immediately before the 4th dose to prevent nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity.
What is vancomycin?
This communication tool from TeamSTEPPS uses "Concerned, Uncomfortable, and Safety Issue" to stop the line.
What is C-U-S?
When assessing a peripheral IV site with pain, warmth, erythema, and a palpable cord along the vein, the nurse suspects this complication.
What is phlebitis?
This experienced unit colleague acts as a teacher, role model, and socializer during clinical orientation.
What is a preceptor?