Compassion fatigue (CF) is defined as a sudden onset of the inability to experience feelings or compassion for others that is triggered by a nurse's inability to separate his/her feelings of stress and anxiety associated with caring for patients who have suffered from a traumatic event. The practice problem addressed in this doctoral project was the lack of knowledge of emergency department nurses (EDNs) related to CF in the work setting, resulting in a negative impact on a nurse's ability to provide quality care to patients. The purpose of the project was to present an educational program on how to recognize, prevent, and manage CF. Framed within Stamm's theoretical model of compassion satisfaction and CF, the project was guided by the steps within the Walden University Manual for Staff Education Project and the practice question addressed whether the literature would support an evidence-based educational program on CF for EDNs. The evaluation/validation for the project included an evaluation of the curriculum by the three content experts (in which learning objectives were deemed met), content validation of the pre-/post-test items by the content experts (all test items were deemed relevant to the learning objectives, with the validity index scale analysis at 1.00), and finally, a paired t test to determine knowledge gained from pre- to post-test that resulted in a significant (p < 0.0001) improvement in knowledge. A potential positive social change resulting from the project is a healthy work environment where EDNs understand and reduce their risks for CF, which may ultimately promote optimal patient care and improved health outcomes.

Sepsis is a severe blood stream infection that claim the lives of almost 220,000 Americans annually. Delayed patient treatment results in multi-organ failure, morbidity, mortality, and increased hospital length of stay. Timely sepsis management enables hospitals to have decreased expenses, increased patient survival, and judicious interventions. The problem addressed in this project was the lack of sepsis- training for registered nurses (RNs) working in the emergency department (ED) of a 628-bed hospital in the southeastern United States. Under the direction of the director of the ED, 269 patient charts were reviewed during 2014 to February 2015 for data related to a sepsis diagnosis. Data showed that 19.4% (n = 103) of patients diagnosed with sepsis had the sepsis order set implemented by the ED nurse. The purpose of this project was to create an educational sepsis-training program for ED nurses. The program included a 2-hour educational module on signs and symptoms of sepsis, including guidelines from the Surviving Sepsis Campaign and the Emergency Nurses' Association. Stetler's Model of Research Utilization and Benner's Novice to Expert conceptual frameworks supported the project. The director of professional practice provided formative feedback on module content and the program evaluation tool. Director feedback indicated that content was beneficial in educating ED nurses on the signs and symptoms of early sepsis recognition. The ED director has now mandated that all ED nurses take the training module and posttest. The project has the potential to improve early sepsis recognition by ED staff and to improve patient outcomes, thus promoting positive social change for patients, families, and nurses.

Akutmottagningen har som uppdrag att handlägga patienter med akuta tillstånd inom olika specialiteter. Ett stort inflöde av patienter, långsamt genomflöde och utflöde skapar långa väntetider och överbelastning kan uppstå. Överbelastning på akutmottagningen kan ge konsekvenser inom flera områden i vårdkedjan. Patienterna riskerar att få sämre vård och längre tid till smärtlindring. Det skapar långa väntetider som i sin tur leder till missnöjda patienter och anhöriga Överbelastning kan även skapa minskad produktivitet och ökad frustration bland sjukvårdspersonal. Sjuksköterskor som arbetar på akutmottagning under överbelastning påverkas i sin yrkesutövning. Syftet med studien var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av överbelastning på akutmottagning. Metoden var en kvalitativ deskriptiv intervjustudie med induktiv ansats. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sex sjuksköterskor verksamma på två olika akutmottagningar. Intervjuerna transkriberades ordagrant för att därefter analyseras utifrån en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet presenteras i tre kategorier: att vara sjuksköterska i kaos, patientsäkerhet och att hantera sin situation. Ur sjuksköterskornas upplevelser framkom att de upplevde att miljön på akutmottagningen vid överbelastning påverkades negativt. De önskade mera tid för att skapa ett bra möte med patienten och upplevde att omvårdnaden var svår att hinna med vid dessa tillfällen. De påtalade att sekretessen inte gick att upprätthålla på en överbelastad akutmottagning. Informanterna upplevde att det fanns risker i patientsäkerheten och påtalade tre områden som extra riskfyllda: patienter med låg prioritet och lång väntetid, patienter som väntar på vårdplats och bemanning på akutmottagningen nattetid. Yrkesutövningen påverkades genom ständiga avbrott och de utvecklade med erfarenhet egna rutiner för att göra arbetet effektivt. De upplevde oro över att missa försämring/allvarliga tillstånd hos patienter och fick en känsla av maktlöshet. Sjuksköterskorna uppgav att de fann stöd i sitt team och att de kunde delegera uppgifter och kände sig trygga med att teamet tillsammans oftast kunde hantera arbetsbelastningen. För att förbättra flödet i arbetet önskade de närmare samarbete med primärvård, att läkarna hade en större förankring i teamet och att det fanns fler beslutsmässiga läkare i tjänst samt önskade bli avlastade från administrativa arbetsuppgifter som de upplevde tog tid från patientarbetet. Studien kan således visa på att överbelastning på överbelastning påverkar samtliga omvårdnadsdomäner och även om sjuksköterskorna hade förståelse för patienternas situation kunde de inte alltid uppfylla exempelvis patienternas rätt till sekretess och integritet, vilket skapade samvetsstress. Sjuksköterskornas utvecklade strategier för att underlätta arbetet skapade över tid mer stress och även den erfarna sjuksköterskan upplevde oro för att missa försämring/allvarliga tillstånd hos patienter. Att inte få gehör för påtalade brister i patientsäkerhet och arbetets förutsättningar under överbelastning kan skapa en känsla av maktlöshet. Stöd från kollegor och team ger dock möjlighet att ändå uppleva arbetet som positivt och känna en tillfredsställelse. Nyckelord: Akutmottagning; Patientsäkerhet; Sjuksköterskor; Överbelastning / The emergency department is assigned to treat patients with emergency conditions in different specialties. A large influx of patients, slow throughput and outflow creates long waiting times and Emergency department crowding can occur. Emergency department crowding can have consequences in several areas of the patient care. Patients risk getting worse care and longer time for pain relief. It creates long waiting times which in turn leads to dissatisfied patients and relatives. Emergency department crowding can also create reduced productivity and increased frustration among healthcare professionals. Nurses working on emergency reception during emergency department crowding is influenced in their professional practice. The purpose of the study was to describe nurses' experiences of emergency department crowding. The method was a qualitative descriptive interview study with inductive approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six nurses working on two different emergency departments. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and then analyzed on the basis of a qualitative content analysis. The result is presented in three categories: A crowded workplace, constant concern about patient safety, and strategies to managing the situation. The experiences of the nurses found that they felt that the environment of emergency response at congestion was adversely affected. They wanted more time to create a good meeting with the patient and experienced that nursing was difficult to cope with on these occasions. They argued that privacy could not sustain with emergency department crowding. The informants felt that there were risks in uj,jpatient safety and identified three areas as extra risky: patients with low priority and long waiting time, patients waiting for care in wards and the number of crew at emergency departments at nightshift. Professional practice was influenced by constant interruptions and they developed with experience own practices to make the work efficient. They were worried about missing the deterioration / serious condition in patients and felt a lack of powerlessness. Nurses stated that they found support in their team and that they could delegate tasks and felt confident that the team could most often handle the workload. In order to improve patient flow, they wanted closer cooperation with primary care, that the physicians had a closer foundation in the team and that there were more decision-making doctors on duty and wanted to be relieved from administrative tasks that they experienced took time from patient work. Thus, the study can show that crowding affects all nursing domains and although the nurses understood the patient's situation, they could not always meet, for example, the patients' right to privacy and integrity, which created conscience stress. Nurses developed strategies to facilitate work that created more stress over time, and even the experienced nurse experienced worries about missing impairment / serious conditions in patients. Failure to address the alleged deficiencies in patient safety and the conditions during emergency department crowding can create a sense of powerlessness. However, support from colleagues and the team gives the opportunity to experience the work as positive and feeling satisfied. Keywords: Crowding; Emergency department; Nurse; Patient safety