For those ED nurses working in the North Texas Market: Provided is education regarding EMS Timeouts. Please verify blood draw policy from prehospital providers as some facilities do not accept. Thank you and please comment with questions.

EMS Key points

Provided is education on recepting patients in the ED. It is imperative to appropriately recept a patient utilizing their social security number and creating an MPI search. Failure to follow the correct process leads to duplication of accounts and is a patient safety concern. Please comment below with any additional questions. Thank you for your time and attention to this educational opportunity

EDM MPI search

Education from Clear Lake Regional Hospital in the Gulf Coast Divison : When Nimodipine is ordered for a non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage it is considered a “critical medication”. This means Nimodipine must be given within 30 minutes of the scheduled administration time. For instance, if Nimodipine was scheduled for 1300, the nurse must administer sometime between 1230 and 1330 or document an acceptable reason for inability to administer within the allotted timeframe (patient in a procedure, patient off the unit, patient hypotensive so the physician was notified prior to administration, etc…). The Standard Medication Administration Times policy discusses administration of Nimodipine as a critical medication and the need for it to be administered within 30 minutes of the scheduled administration time. Also, Nimodipine administration compliance is closely monitored during our annual Comprehensive Stroke Survey. The nurses are able to see the critical medication instructions if they click on “***** NOT FOR IV USE ******…” in the eMAR. Clear Lake Regional Hospital has had quite a few non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage patients in the months of August and September and we noticed a few fall-outs on Nimodipine administration. I have attached the Standard Medication Administration Times policy and a snap shot of where to click in the eMAR to view the administration instructions.  Please contact your Regional Director of Clinical Operations for questions.

Nimodipine eMAR Order

Critical Medication Administration Policy - Nimodipine.

Nova Statstrip, which is the HCA approved glucometer, has recieved FDA approval for capillary sample testing in the ICU and ED. The change in process will require the sample type, venous or arterial. See attached screen shot for additional information.

Screen shot - sample type comment.doc