Question

A 54-year-old uninsured and unemployed female arrives at
the emergency department (ED) of a small private hospital
complaining of chest pain and nausea. The triage nurse calls
the on-call physician, who instructs the nurse to send the
patient to the county hospital several blocks away. The nurse
assesses the patient and contacts her supervisor who
instructs her to contact the medical chief of staff to inform
him that the patient is in need of emergency treatment.

Discuss whether the nurse’s action was appropriate or
inappropriate.

Answer 1

In this given scenario the nurse’s action was appropriate because

1. When female patient arrives at the emergency department (ED), she immediately informed to the on-call physician. The responsibilities of on-call physicians to respond, examine, and treat patients with emergency medical conditions. But he did not respond properly

2. The nurse assesses the patient

3. Based on the physician instructions the nurse to send the patient to the county hospital blocks and contacts her supervisor.

4. Later she contacted the medical chief of staff to inform about the patient need of emergency treatment.

In the all of the above situations, the nurse did not make any mistake, so the nurse’s action was appropriate.