Editorial EDITOR Claire Picton Consultant in emergency care nursing at the Hillingdon Hospital, Middlesex MANAGING EDITOR Nick Lipley Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3166 Email: [email protected] EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jim Bethel Senior lecturer and nurse practitioner in emergency care, University of Wolverhampton Hannah Bryant Resuscitation officer, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham Jennifer Critchley Urgent care centre emergency nurse practitioner, Benalla, and senior lecturer, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Rachel Lyons Assistant clinical professor of nursing, Rutgers University, Newark NJ Lorna McInulty Senior lecturer in emergency and unscheduled care, University of Central Lancashire Mike Parker Lecturer in clinical nursing, faculty of health and social care, University of Hull Mike Paynter Consultant nurse, Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Andrew Rideout Advanced nurse practitioner, emergency department, Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary Linsey Sheerin Lead nurse in emergency care at Antrim Area Hospital, Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Less push, more pull Two of the biggest problems facing emergency department (ED) staff is that they have too many patients to manage and that hospitals do not move patients through the system fast enough. In other words, while ED staff must push to get their patients discharged, their organisations are failing to pull patients out of urgent care settings.
Acting assistant editor Jennifer Sprinks Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3148 Email: [email protected] Production editor Duncan Tyler Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3133 Email: [email protected]
The main burden of patient discharge falls on senior ED staff who, as well as managing the care of patients, must oversee their transfer to wards, other hospitals or the community.
Administration manager Helen Hyland Email: [email protected] Administration assistant Sandra Lynch BUSINESS UNIT Display advertisements Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3123 Classified advertisements Tel: +44 (0)20 8423 1333
It is good to see the issue of overcrowding in EDs being addressed proactively by ambulatory emergency care (AEC) providers (pages 18-19).
EMERGENCY NURSE RCN Publishing Company The Heights, 59-65 Lowlands Road Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex HA1 3AW Emergency Nurse is indexed, abstracted and/or published online in the following media: British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Medline and Ovid ABC APPLICATION APPROVED 8,160 (Jan-Dec 2013)
The introduction of AEC, like that of community matrons and more GP services, is an attempt to reduce ED
SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT Royal College of Nursing Journal subscription department, Copse Walk, Cardiff Gate Business Park, Cardiff CF23 8XG. Tel: +44 (0)345 772 6100 Print edition rates Personal: from £73 a year in the UK and Europe, and from £121 a year in the rest of the world. Institutional: from £446 a year Email: [email protected] ©2014 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers. ISSN 1354-5752 (print). ISSN 2047-8984 (online)
While emergency department staff must push to get patients discharged, organisations are failing to pull them out of urgent care settings
Claire Picton Editor
attendances. AEC providers do this by pulling patients who have attended ED services back into the community. On a related issue, health care, especially in the community, is so closely linked with social care that it makes me smile when people talk about amalgamating the two. I have been involved with the NHS for long enough to remember the Department of Health and Social Security, which was split into two government departments in 1988. Health and social care are integral to humans’ wellbeing, and separating them has always seemed artificial. We need to learn from the past, especially our mistakes but also our successes, to work together more effectively. Claire Picton is consultant in emergency care nursing at the Hillingdon Hospital, Middlesex
Printed by Stephens and George, Merthyr Tydfil, on acid-free paper Acceptance of an advertisement does not constitute a recommendation or an endorsement of a product or service, either by the RCN or RCN Publishing WEBSITE nm.rcnpublishing.com AUTHOR GUIDELINES rcnpublishing.com/r/en-author-guidelines OPEN ACCESS rcnpublishing.com/page/authors/ open-access-frequently-asked-questions
Our mission Emergency Nurse encourages innovation and promotes professional excellence in all pre-hospital and emergency care settings. The journal is editorially independent and opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Royal College of Nursing or those of contributors’ employing organisations.
Follow us: @ENJournalRCN EMERGENCY NURSE
Read more at: nursingblog.rcnpublishing.co.uk
Visit us at: Emergency Nurse November 2014 | Volume 22 | Number 7
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Less push, more pull Two of the biggest problems facing emergency department (ED) staff is that they have too many patients to manage and that hospitals do not move patients through the system fast enough. In other words, while ED staff must push to get their patients discharged, their organisations are failing to pull patients out of urgent care settings.
Acting assistant editor Jennifer Sprinks Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3148 Email: [email protected] Production editor Duncan Tyler Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3133 Email: [email protected]
The main burden of patient discharge falls on senior ED staff who, as well as managing the care of patients, must oversee their transfer to wards, other hospitals or the community.
Administration manager Helen Hyland Email: [email protected] Administration assistant Sandra Lynch BUSINESS UNIT Display advertisements Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3123 Classified advertisements Tel: +44 (0)20 8423 1333
It is good to see the issue of overcrowding in EDs being addressed proactively by ambulatory emergency care (AEC) providers (pages 18-19).
EMERGENCY NURSE RCN Publishing Company The Heights, 59-65 Lowlands Road Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex HA1 3AW Emergency Nurse is indexed, abstracted and/or published online in the following media: British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Medline and Ovid ABC APPLICATION APPROVED 8,160 (Jan-Dec 2013)
The introduction of AEC, like that of community matrons and more GP services, is an attempt to reduce ED
SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT Royal College of Nursing Journal subscription department, Copse Walk, Cardiff Gate Business Park, Cardiff CF23 8XG. Tel: +44 (0)345 772 6100 Print edition rates Personal: from £73 a year in the UK and Europe, and from £121 a year in the rest of the world. Institutional: from £446 a year Email: [email protected] ©2014 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers. ISSN 1354-5752 (print). ISSN 2047-8984 (online)
While emergency department staff must push to get patients discharged, organisations are failing to pull them out of urgent care settings
Claire Picton Editor
attendances. AEC providers do this by pulling patients who have attended ED services back into the community. On a related issue, health care, especially in the community, is so closely linked with social care that it makes me smile when people talk about amalgamating the two. I have been involved with the NHS for long enough to remember the Department of Health and Social Security, which was split into two government departments in 1988. Health and social care are integral to humans’ wellbeing, and separating them has always seemed artificial. We need to learn from the past, especially our mistakes but also our successes, to work together more effectively. Claire Picton is consultant in emergency care nursing at the Hillingdon Hospital, Middlesex
Printed by Stephens and George, Merthyr Tydfil, on acid-free paper Acceptance of an advertisement does not constitute a recommendation or an endorsement of a product or service, either by the RCN or RCN Publishing WEBSITE nm.rcnpublishing.com AUTHOR GUIDELINES rcnpublishing.com/r/en-author-guidelines OPEN ACCESS rcnpublishing.com/page/authors/ open-access-frequently-asked-questions
Our mission Emergency Nurse encourages innovation and promotes professional excellence in all pre-hospital and emergency care settings. The journal is editorially independent and opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Royal College of Nursing or those of contributors’ employing organisations.
Follow us: @ENJournalRCN EMERGENCY NURSE
Read more at: nursingblog.rcnpublishing.co.uk
Visit us at: Emergency Nurse November 2014 | Volume 22 | Number 7
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 05, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
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