Contemporary Nursing
This document outlines a client's wishes regarding medical treatment in situations where they cannot communicate their decisions.
What is an advance directive?
Assigning tasks to other healthcare team members, such as LPNs or assistive personnel, is a key part of this nursing role.
What is delegation?
These 2 identifiers are commonly used to identify a client prior to providing treatment or administering medications.
What are name and date of birth?
This simple, yet effective, method helps decrease the transmission of germs between nurse and client, and can be performed with soap and water or alcohol-based sanitizer.
What is handwashing?
These items, including gloves, masks, and gowns, are used to protect healthcare workers and patients from infection during procedures or patient interactions.
What is personal protective equipment (PPE)?
This action involves supporting a client's right to make informed decisions about their own care.
What is advocating for client rights and needs?
This approach to healthcare focuses on respecting and responding to a patient's individual preferences, needs, and values, ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.
What is patient-centered care?
These are devices that allow nurses to move the client safely.
What are transfer assistive devices(gait belts, slide boards, and mechanical lifts)?
Clients prone to this condition have a higher risk of skin damage due to prolonged exposure to moisture.
What is incontinence? (Skin injury from prolonged exposure to moisture is referred to as "maceration".
This technique is used to prevent contamination during medical procedures by maintaining a sterile field and using sterilized equipment.
What is aseptic technique?
This ethical principle means doing no harm to the patient.
What is nonmaleficence?
Nurses must address this type of workplace issue promptly to maintain a safe and effective care environment, often involving disputes or disagreements among team members.
What is staff conflict?
Before using these, nurses must ensure all alternatives have been tried, and they must be monitored closely to prevent harm to the client.
What are restraints?
Clients who suffer from this neurological condition may have difficulty performing personal hygiene due to motor function loss.
What is a stroke?
These are specialized precautions used to prevent the transmission of highly infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis or COVID-19, and include the use of PPE and patient isolation.
What are airborne precautions?
This ethical principle supports the patient's right to make their own decisions.
What is autonomy?
Participating in activities like collecting data or serving on committees to improve healthcare services is part of this nursing activity.
What is participating in quality improvement (QI) activity?
This process involves acknowledging and documenting mistakes made during client care to improve future safety practices.
What is error reporting (incident reporting)?
Older clients may resist bathing due to factors like fear of water, pain with mobility, and fear of falling, making it difficult to maintain hygiene.
What is aging?
This strict technique involves creating a sterile environment and using sterile instruments to prevent contamination during procedures such as surgeries or catheter insertions.
What is surgical asepsis?
A nurse threatens to give a patient an injection against their will. This is an example of this type of tort.
What is assault?
This electronic system allows healthcare providers to enter patient care orders directly into a computer, reducing errors and improving efficiency in medication administration and treatment plans.
What is Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE)?
The acronym PASS is used to remember the steps in this important safety procedure, which includes pulling the pin and aiming at the base of the fire.
What is the proper use of a fire extinguisher?
These tend to conceal more pathogens, increasing the risk of spreading infection, compared to their shorter counterparts.
What are longer nails?
This foundational practice in infection control assumes that all body fluids are potentially infectious, and healthcare workers should always use PPE when in contact with them.
What are standard precautions?
This document must be obtained before performing a surgical procedure or invasive treatment.
What is informed consent?
This level of care focuses on routine, preventive health services such as check-ups, vaccinations, and health screenings, typically provided by general practitioners.
What is primary care?
This step in the PASS method involves moving the fire extinguisher nozzle in a side-to-side motion while targeting the base of the flames.
What is "sweep"?
This type of care is essential to prevent infections, odors, and irritation in the perineal area.
What is perineal care?
These infections are acquired in a healthcare setting, often due to improper infection control practices.
What are healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)?
When nurses face a conflict between two moral imperatives, they are experiencing this.
What is an ethical dilemma?
This federal health insurance program primarily provides coverage for individuals who are 65 and older, as well as certain younger people with disabilities.
What is Medicare?
This acronym outlines the steps to take in a fire emergency.
What is RACE? (Rescue, Alarm, Contain, and Extinguish or Evacuate)
Inadequate care of this can lead to tooth decay and gum disease, both of which have been linked to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
What is oral hygiene?
This technique involves practices such as hand hygiene and disinfecting surfaces to reduce the number of pathogens and prevent their spread in a healthcare setting.
What is medical asepsis?
This legal concept refers to the level of care a reasonably prudent nurse would provide in similar circumstances.
What is professional negligence?
This joint federal and state program provides health coverage for low-income individuals and families, including pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
What is Medicaid?
Established by The Joint Commission, these goals are designed to improve patient safety by addressing key areas like accurate client identification, infection prevention, and reducing the risk of medical errors.
What are the National Patient Safety Goals?
lients with bariatric care needs may have these in areas like the abdominal region and under the breasts, which can hinder their ability to perform hygiene care.
What are deep skin folds?
This link in the chain of infection is broken when a nurse properly cleans wounds and keeps dressings sterile to prevent pathogen entry.
What is the portal of entry?
This practice, often paired with conventional medicine, includes techniques like acupuncture and massage to enhance healing and reduce stress.
What is complementary medicine?
This approach uses treatments like herbal remedies or homeopathy in place of conventional medical treatments.
What is alternative medicine?
To prevent this common safety risk, healthcare providers use interventions like bed alarms, non-slip socks, and keeping the bed in a low position.
What are falls?
Clients at higher risk for infections, such as those with diabetes, should have these extremities closely monitored to prevent complications.
What are feet?
These precautions are used when infections are spread through droplets from sneezing or coughing, requiring healthcare workers to wear masks when interacting with infected patients.
What are droplet precautions?