Manual of Emergency Care

Acomprehensive clinical reference for emergency nurses, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics. Content covers basic principles of emergency care (e.g., basic and advanced life support, intravenous therapy, shock), medical emergencies, trauma emergencies, and emergency care for special populations. Each topic has a detailed description and includes assessment parameters, diagnostic tests, therapeutic interventions, and other pertinent information. Expert emergency contributors, including staff nurses and clinical nurse specialists, provide the book with strong clinical applicability and currency.
This new edition addresses the hottest topics in emergency care with new chapters on patient and family education, legal issues, allergies, and forensic nursing. In an effort to provide the most update information, our contributors radically revised the chapters on sexual assault and wound management and provided more recent data in the domestic violence chapter.

* Includes complete, up-to-date and practical information for clinical practitioners and nursing students. * Presents a team approach to problem solving, reflecting actual practices in emergency departments. * Covers assessment parameters, diagnostic tests, therapeutic interventions and other information pertinent to disorders and conditions NEW TO THIS EDITION: * Includes new chapter on forensic nursing thoroughly explaining the role of forensic nurses and the collection of forensic data. * Offers a new chapter on patient and family education, stressing the growing importance of providing supports to help patients and their families continue recovery once they leave emergency care. * Presents basic legal issues for emergency nurses in a new chapter addressing hot legal topics including legal consent, proper treatment of psychiatric patients, appropriate handling of forensic issues, and terms of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). * Provides a new chapter on allergies with detailed descriptions of reactions and the associated signs and symptoms, interventions, diagnostic tests, latex allergies, and patient education and support. * Contains an updated, extensively detailed chapter on sexual assault listing proper procedures for collecting, securing and transferring evidence, following up, documenting the assault and testifying in court, all in a bulleted, easy-to-follow format. * Offers newly revised wound management chapter with more detailed definitions and descriptions of wounds and wound care. * Includes separate chapters on intravenous therapy and laboratory specimens.New chapter providing specialty information about forensic nursing (Chapter 40) thoroughly explains the role forensic nursing plays; situations calling for collection of forensic data; how to take forensic photography; how to collect, track, and document physical evidence appropriately; and treatment of and concerns surrounding special situations (e.g., gun shot wounds, stab wounds, suicides/accidents).A new chapter about patient and family education (Chapter 3) stresses the growing importance of providing the patient and family with the information they need as they continue through the healing process. This chapter helps emergency personnel identify learning needs, assess the learner, establish learning goals, select and use appropriate teaching methods, evaluate the effectiveness, and document. Examples of discharge instructions for common ailments (e.g., nosebleed, wound care/burn care, sore throat/cold) are also included.
New chapter on basic legal issues for emergency nurses (Chapter 8) addresses yet another hot topic by describing terms for legal consent (e.g., patient age, patient competency, reportable conditions/situations), proper treatment of psychiatric patients, appropriate handling of forensic issues, and terms of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). A new chapter about allergies (Chapter 20) clearly and completely gives information about allergic reactions by providing definitions, describing types of reactions and the associated signs and symptoms and therapeutic interventions, listing diagnostic tests for allergies, explaining latex allergy, and giving information about education and support.
Radically revised chapter on sexual assault (Chapter 31)that gives more in depth details about sexual assault; lists procedures in a bulleted, easyformat; describes appropriate collection of evidence and examination; explains proper means of securing and transferring evidence, following up, and documenting the assault; and provides tips for testifying in court.Revision of wound management chapter (Chapter 21) to include more complete definitions and descriptions of wounds and wound care.
Individual chapters for intravenous therapy (Chapter 6) and laboratory specimens (Chapter 7) to provide more specific and complete coverage of these important topics.