What to do with intoxicated patients
Nurse Leader Insider, December 11, 2019
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Insider!
It might be a challenge to have a patient who is intoxicated, but it's important to remember a few things when treating such a patient:
- First, assess the situation and make sure you know what you are dealing with.
- If the person is intoxicated with alcohol or drugs, get help. Intoxicated people are often unpredictable and may become violent without provocation.
- Try to ensure the patient's safety. Move the person to a safer environment and remove all harmful objects.
- Continually assess for signs of injury, such as head trauma, or the presence of other conditions, such as hyperglycemia.
Editor's note: This was an excerpt from HCPro's book, Stressed Out About Difficult Patients. Check out our latest nursing resources here.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Insider!
Related Products
-
Strategies for Nurse Managers
Strategies for Nurse Managers is a 12-page monthly how-to newsletter that was created exclusively to help you save time...
-
Quick-E Pro: Time Management: A Guide For Nurses
Designed to help you make the most of your time this resource includes proven strategies and techniques as well as charts...
-
Nurse Residency Program Builder
This guide saves you time and money by providing the tools you need to establish a well-structured nursing residency program...
-
Onboarding New Graduate Nurses: How to Overcome Hurdles and Retain New Nurses
This 90-minute webcast demonstrates how the onboarding process for new graduate nurses will increase retention and speed up...
-
Quick-E Pro: Evidence-Based Practice: A Guide for Nurses
This one-of-a-kind resource will walk you through how to find evidence, critique literature, and make practice based on...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- Complications from immobility by body system
- Prevent dehydration with nursing interventions
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Coding Clinic reiterates guidelines for provider documentation
- E-mailed
-
- Capturing start and stop times for infusions
- Will the JCAHO consider my facility's use of side rails a restraint?
- Understand the spine to code back procedures correctly
- Safe rooms for suicidal patients
- Q/A: Billing telemetry daily monitoring
- Coding Clinic reiterates guidelines for provider documentation
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Searched
