Emergency Care Nurse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Emergency Care Nurse - Essay Example The study in today’s Lancet by M. Sakr and colleagues is a reliable comparison between nurse practitioners and SHOs in the service they provide in an emergency department. Patients were allocated randomly to management by a nurse practitioner or a SHO. No significant differences were noted in the accuracy of examination, adequacy of treatment, use and interpretation of plain radiological investigations, or arrangements of follow-up. Fewer patients seen by nurse practitioners needed unplanned follow-up. However, nurse practitioners took longer to assess patients and were more expensive to employ. The findings of this study, in general, support the case for employing nurse practitioners in the emergency department. The findings also raise several points for consideration. Nurse practitioners posts that are to be established within a department should be seen as a new resource and must be supported by appropriate funding to ensure that nursing levels are adequate to provide nursi ng care to patients not seen by nurse practitioners. If no additional nurses are provided, there may be difficulties in providing an adequate routine emergency service (Tye, et. al., 1998). The nurse practitioners may then be diverted to other nursing tasks, and the impact of having a nurse practitioner is lost. Concerns about the loss of clinical judgments and skills because of specialization can be addressed by rotation of nurse practitioner duties with those of traditional nursing.