Hey everyone, I am searching for educational topics to teach to ED nurses and techs at my facility. I have asked several of my co-workers where they feel that education is lacking but many of them give me minimal to no response.

Any suggestions on topics would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there! I moved your post to the Emergency Nursing forum to ensure maximum responses.

Are there skills you can readily identify that are low volume/high risk? What type of ED is it? Trauma center, community hospital, rural, etc.?

After watching 3 nurses attempt to set up a chest tube, dress it with paper tape, and fail to tape the connection, I suggest chest tubes. Also, accessing implanted ports and basic knowledge about LVADs.

A mix of topics that comprises of things that you do all the time but could use more detail, and things you see and do rarely.

1. Sepsis componants. Short presentations on Lacatate, procalcitonin

2. complex 18 Lead EKG

3. Compartment syndrome

4. Correct order for blood draws and ways to limit hemolysis

5. Proper use of BVM

The list could be endless.

I have encountered several times while in my current job and while traveling, nurses and ED physician fail miserably when attempting to transcutaneous pace someone.

Not only transcutaneous, but internal also.

I was going to suggest transcutaneous pacing/internal pacing, but someone beat me to it.

Capnography if it is not commonly used in your facility (We were just starting to use it more when I left the ER 3 years ago).

Chest tubes is always a good topic, too (as previously mentioned).

Rapid infuser (used infrequently in our small community ER).

Thank you. It will definitely help with it being under the Emergency forum.

We are a Level 2 trauma center. The city that we serve has a population of about 40,000 and a county population of about 100,000. Our ED is comprised of senior nurses and novice nurses.

I would go for those low volume/high risk things, sounds similar to what I am seeing here. Initial plans I have are to go over massive transfusions, rapid infuser set-up/use (we have a Level 1, I miss my Belmont!), and chest tube drainage systems. If you're holding a lot of critical care patients, you could offer education on things like vents, art lines, etc.

I would agree with the topics listed, and I would second Pixie's suggestion for vent troubleshooting, or at the very least where to find what needs to be charted because a lot of people seem to struggle with that. Same with CPAP/BiPAP.

I like the above suggestions about the how, but when I was a new nurse I so much appreciated the WHY... What the heck is a lactate, why is it important to check... Why do I have to go to blood so fast, why can't I give 8 liters of LR??? The task at hand is important, but understanding the rationale behind it can save a life!

Here's a good one: THE ESSENTIALS OF DOCUMENTATION. For example, if your patient has a change in condition/mental status/signs of life, it must be reflected in the charting — what was observed, and what was done in response. A chart shouldn't go from "pt AOx3, ambulatory" directly to "pt intubated" with nothing in the middle. Documentation must paint a picture of the patient's visit. This is a big, big challenge in the busy ED setting.

A chart shouldn't go from "pt AOx3, ambulatory" directly to "pt intubated" with nothing in the middle.

Yes! This gets the point across so much more powerfully than vague verbiage about documenting in this flowsheet, and that flowsheet, blah blah blah.