Nursing Sensitive Outcomes evaluation in the Emergency Department: An Umbrella Review.
Eartha Agatha Feller, Sofia Di Mario, Lucia Filomeno and 1 others
PMID 38589303WHAT IT FOUND
Thirty-five patient outcomes were identified as sensitive to ED nursing care, mostly waiting time, satisfaction, length of stay and analgesia timing.
Physical function was rarely measured. This is an evidence map, not proof treatments work.
Key findings
01Nine included systematic reviews reported 35 nursing-sensitive outcomes for adult emergency department patients.
02Waiting time, patient satisfaction, ED length of stay and time to analgesia were the most studied outcomes, while physical function, mortality and left without being seen were each reported in one study.
03The outcomes were grouped into safety, clinical, functional and perspective domains, with safety most explored and functional least explored.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only nine systematic reviews were included, and their quality ranged from low to acceptable to high. Most included reviews were conducted in Australia (n=6), so ED staffing and models of care may differ elsewhere. The review adapted adult population criteria because included reviews defined adults differently, which may have excluded relevant studies. Outcome definitions and measurement methods varied across reviews, including waiting time, pain relief, quality of care and mortality. Functional outcomes were based on one review, so physical function after emergency discharge is not well established here. The paper maps outcomes that have been measured; it does not test whether nursing interventions improve patient outcomes.
Declared interests
The article does not report funding or conflicts for the umbrella review. It notes that two included reviews declared receiving partly resource funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that nurse-initiated analgesia, team triage, nurse practitioner services or pictorial discharge advice improve patient outcomes. It maps outcomes reported in nine reviews, and the included reviews varied in quality and definitions.