Rapid Access Guide for Triage and Emergency Nurses: Chief Complaints with High-Risk Presentations

Awarded third place in the 2023 AJN Book of the Year Awards in Critical Care–Emergency Nursing.

Provides critical information to help healthcare providers ensure patient safety by preventing "misses" or "near-misses"

Newly updated, this life-saving pocket-sized clinical manual guides triage nurses to rapidly recognize life-threatening or life-altering conditions. The second edition delivers new chapters on endocrine emergencies, hematologic and oncologic emergencies, sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and human trafficking. Pediatric and older adult chapters offer extensive new information on assessment, triage pearls, and key tips for age-related emergencies. Also included is updated STEMI, Stroke, and Sepsis guidelines.

Focusing on patient-driven chief complaints, this resource provides a wealth of concise information covering each body system along with first-line questions, assessments, and interventions to determine the patient's level of urgency, sick versus not sick. Prominent icons denote critical signs and symptoms and deliver invaluable information from experienced triage/ED nurses. Content encompasses triage, waiting room and legal issues, high-risk medical conditions, and special issues in emergency care. Including action steps to aid in prioritizing during a crisis, the resource covers trauma, burns, active shooter/active threat, and emergency management during a disaster. Reference tables and checklists facilitate at-a-glance retrieval of crucial information. Opportunities for customization include space for taking notes, inscribing important phone numbers, and pasting facility-specific policies/procedures.

New to the Second Edition:

• New chapters addressing endocrine emergencies, hematologic and oncologic emergencies, sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and human trafficking
• Expanded content in the triage, pediatric, and older adult chapters
• Enhanced red flags, triage considerations, and key tips, along with updates to the screening tools
• Reformatted and condensed chief complaint layout throughout the book to increase accessibility of information
• Worst-case scenarios to consider throughout each body system chapter
• Access to the Pediatric Assessment Triangle and pediatric vital signs and detailed information for performing the A-B-C-D-E assessment

Key Features:

• Expedites critical decision-making with quick access to key reference material
• Delivers information honed from decades of combined emergency nursing experience
• Uses icons to quickly direct the user to relevant content areas
• Enhances clinical judgment with essential tips regarding common chief complaints
• Sheds light on complex issues with unique patient presentations
• Highlights key pediatric and older-adult considerations
• Covers disaster response and active shooter/violent situation action steps
• Access to blank pages for customizing the book to meet individual needs