Mission impossible: minimising the terror of paediatric resuscitation for staff in the ED.
Resuscitation situations within the emergency department are stressful at the best of times. However, when children are involved, emotions tend to escalate. Often those professionals involved can find themselves in a situation where logic and procedures which are usually second nature are completely foreign. Campbelltown Emergency Department in the south west of Sydney cares for approximately 12,000 paediatric presentations annually (30-40 children/day). Multiple paediatric resuscitation situations occurring within the department are not uncommon. In an attempt to decrease the stress experienced by staff in such situations, a quality project was undertaken to improve the response time and availability of essential equipment. The aim of this paper is to report the outcomes of the project, which was carried out whilst the author was employed in the capacity of Clinical Nurse Educator in the Emergency Department of Campbelltown Hospital.
Lancaster
Leann
L
The College of Nursing, Locked Bag 3030, Burwood NSW 1805, Australia.
D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D009517:New South Wales; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010372:Pediatrics; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*