Answer for NRS 460 Discuss the responsibilities of each team member at this stage in the patient’s care. Once the patient is stabilized in the ED, what discharge planning would be initiated even though the patient will not be discharged yet? Topic 1 DQ 1
John Doe is a 35-year-old male who was involved in a road traffic accident while riding his motorcycle, resulting in multiple fractures and a traumatic brain injury. He was brought in by the ambulance personnel for immediate care. While in the emergency department, laboratory and radiological tests were performed, and consent to treat all options were obtained.
An ED is a busy center comprised of many healthcare providers. One major group of persons involved in the ED includes emergency physicians and nurses. Emergency physicians are essential in diagnosing, critical-care decision-making, ordering tests, resuscitating, reviewing, and prescribing emergency and ongoing medications (Coppes et al., 2020). On the other hand, emergency nurses are crucial in performing emergency assessments, triaging, collecting test samples, administering medications, and assisting the physician in some procedures. The third group of personnel who play an important role are the laboratory personnel who receive test samples and process the results for further interpretations. In addition, radiologists and radiology technicians are crucial in performing imaging tests such as X-ray and CT scans and interpreting the results for the emergency physician (Austin et al., 2020). Social workers are crucial in helping medical personnel obtain treatment consent in the ED.
While preparing to discharge the patient, it is crucial for healthcare providers to continuously assess the patient for any health concerns by asking open-ended questions and also responding to the patient’s concerns regarding their health. It is also essential to inform the patient of their diagnosis, test results, and any procedure performed(Gonçalves-Bradley et al., 2022). In addition, it is always important to include the family in the discharge planning process and engage them and the patient by advising on the kind of care and medications the patient will need post-discharge. Since the patient had a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures, it is crucial to inform them and the family to look out for any warning signs such as loss of consciousness and rebound headaches and inform them on what to do if the symptoms occur. Lastly, one can engage the patient and family in organizing follow-up appointments and link them to available remote services such as telemedicine that can allow me to regularly follow up on the patient.
References
Austin, E. E., Blakely, B., Tufanaru, C., Selwood, A., Braithwaite, J., & Clay-Williams, R. (2020). Strategies to measure and improve emergency department performance: a scoping review. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 28, 1-14. https://sjtrem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13049-020-00749-2
Coppes, S., Veugelers, R., Hessels, R. A. P. A., van den Brand, C. L., & Gaakeer, M. I. (2020). Position within the hospital and role in the emergency department of emergency physicians in the Netherlands: a national survey. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12245-020-0267-2
Gonçalves-Bradley, D. C., Lannin, N. A., Clemson, L., Cameron, I. D., & Shepperd, S. (2022). Discharge planning from hospital. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2(2), CD000313. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000313.pub6
