Emergency Assessment Unit
Welcome
Firstly welcome to the Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU) at Grantham Hospital. All the staff hopes your allocation will be informative and enjoyable. If at anytime you have any problems during your practice placement please feel free to discuss them with your mentor or the nurse in charge.
What is the Emergency Assessment Unit?
Emergency Assessment Units were developed in many acute organisations to provide adult emergency care, bringing with it a great improvement of the care provided to such patients. This improvement is explained on the Department of Health website as a result of being able to free up a backlog of patients who require admission from the Accident and Emergency department. Reducing this backlog of patients assists ULHT as it does within other trusts in attaining the 4 hour target timefor emergency departments set out by the government.
The EAU at Grantham compromises of a total of 28 beds which incorporates 7 triage beds. The beds are incorporated into 5 bays, ranging from 5-6 bedded bays and also side rooms, 2 of which are en-suite. Our patients are referred to us from a variety of sources i.e. General Practitioner’s (GP’s), Accident and Emergency department and consultant clinics.Within the unit you will assist in the care of many different medical, orthopaedicand surgical patients in the acute phase of their illness.
Nursing on the unit is very different from nursing on a general ward with a varying workload. Patient turnover tends to be high with the aim of patients being nursed in the assessment unit for 48 hours. Patients are admitted directly to the ”triage” area, an area fully equipped to deal with the wide range of conditions that patient’s can present with. A comprehensive nursing and medical assessment is performed, care and interventions planned, treatments initiated, implemented and evaluated. It is aimed that patient’s stay in the assessment unit for 72 hours or less from which they are discharged home or transferred to a ward appropriate for the patient’s care.
The unit is on take every day of the year for patients 16 years and over. Ward rounds occur twice a day for the ‘on-take’ team in order for there to be an individualised management plan in place for each patient. During your practice placement you will also be involved in the daily ward rounds of the patient’s liaising with medical team.
EAU Staff
The Ward Manager is Sr Rachel Ryder and the Clinical Educator is Rosemary Bull. Staff working on the EAU have a varying degree of skill and experience helping to create an invaluable learning environment for students. Staff have developed and continue to develop their professional scope of practice, performing procedures such as venepuncture and cannulation amongst other extended roles. This allows the EAU to function in a productive manner providing excellent clinical care integrated into a robust emergency care stream assisting in rapid decision making and early commencement of treatment. Students are actively encouraged to ask questions and all staff will attempt to accommodate every question. Whilst on the ward you will work with a range of staff forming the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social work department, specialist nurses and bed managers.
Off Duty
The EAU operates a three shift system:
Early shift 07.00 – 15.00
Late shift 13.00 – 21.00
Night shift 20.45 – 07.07
Although we do operate a self rostering off duty we would encourage you to either telephone the ward or visit to arrange your initial off duty with your mentor prior to commencing your allocation. The telephone number is 01476 464345.
Mentors
Your mentor(s) for this allocation will be
1. Mentor ______
2. Associate mentor ______
3. Befriender/buddy ______
Aims of the Practice Placement
- To enable the student to familiarise themselves with the new environment in order to understand the work undertaken within the EAU.
- To enable the student to become more familiar with the equipment used in the area.
- To be able to understand the admission process and clinical assessments required on admission.
- To gain insight into the care of a patient in the acute phase of their illness.
- To continue to expand ability to communicate effectively within a diverse community.
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Learning Opportunities
- Assist the qualified nurse to assess, plan, implement and evaluate patient care.
- Outline some of the anatomy and physiology associated with some of the common illnesses found on the EAU.
- Show awareness of the holistic needs of the patient and their relatives during their in-patient stay in the EAU.
- Demonstrate an understanding and respect for the different members of the MDT and specialist nurses through the appropriate use of insight visits during your placement.
- To develop communication skills used with patients, relatives and the MDT
- Participate in drug rounds gaining knowledge in the common drugs dispensed and the care of the patient receiving them.
- To develop an understanding of the investigative procedures required to assist in the diagnosis of patient illnesses i.e. Echocardiograms, Lumbar Puncture, ECG monitoring amongst others.
- Opportunity to follow patient journey.
Sources of Information
The Society for Acute Medicine
Use of emergency observation and assessment wards: a systematic literature review [online]
Department of Health website