Category: Welcome to ED

February 18, 2024

Get-There-Itis (Plan Continuation Bias)

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) are well-aware of the dangers of Plan Continuation Bias:

“The continuation of an original plan even with the availability of new information that suggests that the plan should be abandoned or at least updated.” AKA Get-There-Itis.

Get-There-Itis has been the cause of multiple fatal air-accidents, where pilots have allowed stressors to bias their decision making, and fatally stick to a failing plan. But… these stressors effect everyone and clinicians are not immune!

November 25, 2023

Civility Saves Lives

Emergency Medicine is a challenging environment, balancing patient needs, time constraints and systems pressures. When this intensifies as responsible clinicians we can ALL feel frustrated, and this can lead to Rudeness. Which, far from rectifying the issues has been show to only exacerbate the issues.

April 7, 2020

First Net

Here is an introduction to using FirstNet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rANVfkbVto4&feature=youtu.be

January 2, 2019

Digital ECG

Digital ECG has now gone live on both sites.

We now have no excuse for loosing ECGs and not sending them to the wards with patients!

Please ensure you put an operator ID in as well as all the patient information to ensure the ECG transmits to EPR – if you are having problems look at the troubleshooting guide on the side of the machine.

Ensure a doctor/ACP signs all ECGs using EPR – just like when they were paper!

Quick Reference and Trouble Shooting Guide are available here Digital ECG Quick reference guide

The SOP for reviewing and signing ECGs is available here Digital ECG SOP

November 3, 2018

1. Why we get things wrong – “A tale of two systems”

Very few of us come to work intent on doing harm. However, despite that we all keep making mistakes. Most of them pass unnoticed and do little harm, although we are all aware the times they don’t, and it is not only the patient that suffers. Read more

July 31, 2018

ED essentials – for newbies

Departmental things

Daily huddle happens at 8am and 10pm please ensure you are there to present your patients
Senior Reviews (ensure the review is documented):
- Child under 1yr
- Atraumatic Chest Pain >30yrs
- Abdo Pain >70yrs
- Return under 72 hrs (with the same condition)
Nursing Roles (unique to ED)
- Nurse in Charge: They keep our department flowing, and need to know what is happening to your patients. Keep them updated with plans and referrals Or they will pester you.
- Triage Nurses: They make a triage assessments, set priority and stream the patients to the most appropriate area. (they have <5min/patient). The information they document is really important – read it! But remember its a quick initial assessment and wont be perfect.
- Multitalented HCA’s: They perform many roles in ED, bloods, cannulas, dressings, PoP’s and much more

March 20, 2018

Locum Induction

NEW locum staff we need to introduce them to our department and processes.

Complete & Sign – check list

Please familiaries yourself with the EMBeds page for ED Essentials for Newbies

Locum Doctor IT access

Locum doctors to be assigned a unique log in by Flexible Workforce when booked for a shift.
If the details are not communicated prior to starting the shift, this should be escalated to Flexible Workforce in hours, and the On Call IT team out of hours.
Log in details can expire if they are not used frequently, in these instances the IT department can reactivate them.
Locum logins should never be used due to issues with Information Governance.

December 17, 2017

Why choose EM?

It’s a good question in today’s climate of increasing patient numbers and complexity. Specialities that offer you the illusion of more control can seem attractive. But Emergency Medicine picks you, and can offer an exciting and varied career. Read more