Nursing Assessments

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Nursing assessments are to be completed at least once every 12 hours and include each physiological system. Assessments are documented in electronic medical records (EMRs) by charting by exception, or complete documentation of all physiological systems (Rothman, Solinger, Rothman, & Finlay, 2012). According to Weis and Levy (2014), EMRs have led to a series of techniques that are called content importing technology (CIT), which make it possible to import information about patients into the chart and move the information to other sections of the EMR. CIT techniques offer opportunities for efficiency, but they can be misused (Weis & Levy, 2014). Subbe and Welch (2013) defined failure to rescue (FTR) as the lack of the proper response to patients who are deteriorating in the hospital. …show more content…

Templates have pre-determined options to choose from relating to examination findings. Some patients may not fit any of the pre-determined options, therefore causing inaccuracy of documentation or the chance that the examination was never performed (Weis & Levy, 2014). Weis and Levy explained that using CIT resulted in documentation errors that threatened patient safety. Rothman et al. (2012) investigated the odds ratio of patient mortality and nursing assessments. Rothman et al. found that nursing assessment data, when reported to physicians, allowed physicians to improve care for the patient. Failure of a nurse’s assessment, defined as negative findings, had short-term and long-term association with patient death (Rothman et al., 2012). Subbe and Welch (2013) and Fasolino and Verdin (2015) found that vital signs were early indicators in patient demise. However, Subbe and Welch asserted that changes in respiratory rate were the most important indicator. Fasolino and Verdin found that changes in heart rate and oxygen saturation were the most

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