Medical emergencies – Why Is Nursing so Important?

Good collaboration between vets and nurses is essential for patient care. This is especially true during emergency admissions when the need for urgent care necessitates efficient and professional working. Division of tasks between the veterinary and nursing team improves working practices. The most important elements of this are discussed in this session.

Preparation

Good preparation is one of the most important steps in dealing with emergency admissions. For common emergencies it helps to have a standard list of required equipment. For more complex cases it is important that the admission team have discussed likely scenarios and what equipment should be immediately available. Prestocked emergency boxes make this process easier and quicker. Examples of useful emergency boxes include emergency tracheotomy kit, foal resuscitation kit, adult respiratory kit and cardiopulmonary resuscitation kit.

During the preparation period, consideration should also be given to the best location for assessment and admission. This should include any possible biosecurity concerns and safety considerations for the patient and staff.

Admission

Nursing care in the admission phase enables rapid initiation of care. The admitting vet is often required to communicate with owners, take time to assess the horse and perform appropriate diagnostic tests. During the assessment nurses can perform the majority of vital tasks including emergency bloodwork, placement of i.v. catheters, emergency fluid therapy, passage of a nasogastric tube etc. Nurses are often quicker and more skilled at performing these tasks.

Stabilisation

During the stabilisation phase there is usually a large number of tasks to complete. Areas that should be considered include fluid therapy, oxygen therapy, emergency medication, provision of analgesia etc. Nurses can rapidly set up all these aspects of care which allows vets time to complete other jobs.

Ongoing care

Vets and nurses should collaborate when making a care plan for an individual horse to ensure that all aspects of care (analgesia, fluid therapy, nutrition etc) are covered. Nurses have the required skill set to provide the best intensive care for patients. The attributes of compassion and attention to detail means that nurses are able to assess and monitor case progression and highlight small changes in patient status that need attention.

Nurses are also able to take time during this phase to ensure that biosecurity requirements are being met and that all paperwork and equipment is organised.

This session will run through the collaborative approach to emergency admissions using real case discussions.

[...]