[Diahni]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/ny...=1&oref=slogin

[TheCommuter]

Moved to the Nursing News forum.

[Altra]

"Loose strands of sweaty dark hair fell across the woman’s face, but she was too sick to push them back. She was in respiratory failure, and nurses were rushing her to intensive care. They grabbed a sheet under her body and heaved her from the gurney onto a bed as if she were a fish in a net, then attached her to a beeping monitor, hand-pumped oxygen into her lungs and got ready to administer an intravenous sedative. "

<sigh>

"hand-pumped oxygen into her lungs" ... patient was being bagged and people stopped to wash their hands???? Glad it wasn't my loved one.

Remember those pesky ABCs we all learned?

AIRWAY
BREATHING
CIRCULATION

"...But the checklist can be cumbersome and time-consuming. The team treating the woman in respiratory failure last week fidgeted nervously as they waited for their referee to tick off the items..."

Another example of follow-the-policy-and-fill-out-the-form vs. do what is clinically appropriate for the patient (e.g., keep bagging, intubating & inserting the central line ASAP)

The sensationalistic imagery and alarmist tone of the article will probably win a Pulitzer for the NY Times writer.

[ocankhe]

About time, sensationalism aside, we do need to begin to look closely on how we have always done things and see if the evidence shows we are safer taking the time out. The attitude used to be I don't care about infection I can treat that later. However, that has lead to resistant organisms and difficulty in treating some life threatening infections. The person bagging the patient in the above article is not the person placing the central line or intubating, so there is no reason not for them to take the time out and follow a checklist for proper technique.

[TeleRNer]

The last hospital I worked at had all lines including all central lines put in by an IV team. No nursing staff were permitted, for the exception of ICU and ED, to do IVs period. This cut down on the amount of infections spread in hospital from IVs. Bravo.
The only dilemma was as a nurse convincing an IV team member of the need for a new line or a secondary line...some of them could be down right lazy and stubborn,"The line looks perfectly ok, I see no need to change the dressing or the line. Translation" Your judgement as the staff nurse is wrong; I choose to ignore your plea." I wished I could have started my own IV line at those times. Sometimes the wait could be lengthy after placing a page to the team. So, no system is all together perfect.