Acute Medicine: A Handbook for Nurse Practitioners (Wiley Series in Nursing)

This book provides Nurse Practitioners working in the field of Acute Medicine with an up to date, practical, and comprehensive guide to the management of acute medical patients. It serves as a text from which the busy highly skilled nurse can obtain information on assessment, diagnosis, and management of acute medical conditions. It identifies priorities for treatment and guides the reader through the management of the patient. Wherever possible the latest published guidelines have been included. The final chapter of the book considers the legal, professional and ethical issues faced by nurses working at an advanced level. The issues of role development, the development of protocols and prescribing are considered. Acute Medicine......Page 4 Contents......Page 10 Preface......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 Communication......Page 18 History Taking......Page 20 The Functional Enquiry......Page 23 The Physical Assessment......Page 26 General Inspection......Page 28 Respiratory Examination......Page 29 Cardiovascular Examination......Page 31 Gastrointestinal Examination......Page 34 Neurological Examination......Page 35 Musculoskeletal Examination......Page 41 Conclusion......Page 42 Anaphylaxis......Page 44 Cardio-Respiratory Arrest......Page 46 Ethical Issues......Page 53 Deliberate Self-Harm......Page 58 Paracetamol Overdose......Page 62 Aspirin Overdose......Page 65 Tricyclic Antidepressant Overdose......Page 68 Heroin Overdose......Page 70 Alcohol Overdose......Page 71 The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Self-Harm Guideline......Page 73 Alcohol Withdrawal......Page 75 Drug Withdrawal......Page 77 Sepsis and Septic Shock......Page 82 Meningitis......Page 84 Infective Endocarditis......Page 88 Gastroenteritis......Page 92 Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)......Page 94 Fever in the Returning Traveller......Page 96 Hot Swollen Joints......Page 100 Antimicrobial Resistance......Page 103 Asthma......Page 106 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)......Page 110 Pulmonary Embolism......Page 113 Community and Hospital Acquired Pneumonia......Page 117 Pneumothorax......Page 121 Type I Respiratory Failure......Page 123 Type II Respiratory Failure......Page 125 Stable Angina......Page 130 Unstable Angina......Page 131 Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction......Page 133 ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction......Page 134 Arrhythmias......Page 138 Bradycardia......Page 140 Tachycardia......Page 143 Atrial Fibrillation (AF)......Page 146 Cardiac Failure......Page 149 Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)......Page 151 Aortic Dissection......Page 153 Cardiac Tamponade......Page 155 Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding (GI Bleed)......Page 160 Variceal Bleeding......Page 162 Acute Liver Failure with Encephalopathy......Page 164 Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease......Page 166 Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA)......Page 170 Hyperosmolar Non-Ketotic State (HONK)......Page 172 Hypoglycaemia......Page 174 Hyperglycaemia in the critically ill patient......Page 176 Hypercalcaemia......Page 179 Hyponatraemia......Page 181 Hypernatraemia......Page 183 Hypokalaemia......Page 185 Hyperkalaemia......Page 187 Addisonian Crisis......Page 189 Thyroid Crisis (Thyroid Storm)......Page 191 Myxedema Crisis......Page 194 Status Epilepticus......Page 198 Stroke......Page 201 Transient Ischaemic Attacks (TIA)......Page 203 Isolated Seizure and Unexplained Loss of Consciousness......Page 205 Headache......Page 207 Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (SAH)......Page 209 Spinal Cord Compression......Page 212 Acute Renal Failure (ARF)......Page 214 Accelerated (Malignant) Hypertension......Page 216 Hypothermia......Page 220 Confusion......Page 222 Severe Anaemia......Page 226 Sickle Cell Crisis......Page 229 Neutropenic Sepsis......Page 232 Blood Transfusion Guidance......Page 234 An Overview of Advanced Practice......Page 240 Legal Perspective......Page 242 Ethical Principles......Page 243 Informed Consent......Page 245 Assessment of Capacity......Page 246 Prescribing......Page 248 Patient Group Directions......Page 250 Conclusion......Page 251 Appendix I Examples of Clinical Management Plans......Page 254 Appendix II Examples of Patient Group Directions......Page 262 Glossary......Page 272 Index......Page 276

Traditional Doctor / Nurse boundaries are being eroded with nurses expanding their sphere of practice to encompass assessment skills and enable them to manage total episodes of patient care with true autonomy (DOH 2000). More recently we have seen the emergence of Nurse Practitioners undertaking this advanced level of health assessment in the acute medical arena. This book will support the decision-making process and treatment that can be offered by these individuals.

Acute Medicine – A Handbook for Nurse Practitionersis an up-to-date, practical and comprehensive guide, offering invaluable information and advice on the management of acute medical conditions. Key features include:

• Assessment, investigation, diagnosis and management of the most acute medical conditions

• A guide through the management of the patient and identification of priorities for treatment

• Legal, professional and ethical issues faced by nurses working at an advanced level

• Role development

• The development of protocols and prescribing

• Examples of Clinical Management Plans for the supplementary prescriber and Patient Group Directions to support practice

Written by an experienced Consultant Nurse in Acute Medicine, this engaging book will serve as a text from which the busy and highly skilled nurse can refer to for information on assessment, diagnosis and management of acute medical conditions.

Carroll provides nurse practitioners working in acute medicine with an up-to-date guide to the management of acute medical patients. This book is a resource from which the busy and highly skilled nurse can obtain information on assessment, diagnosis, and management of acute medical conditions