Nurses responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) priority for emergency care systems for universal health coverage

Abstract

Emergency care presentations are increasing exponentially around the world. Timely recognition and treatment of the acutely ill and injured at the appropriate levels of the health system are fundamental to the quality and safety of healthcare. This is particularly true in the emergency care environment where delivering care is uniquely challenging, particularly for emergency nurses whose practice is starkly different to other nursing specialties. Emergency nurses assess and initiate care for patients of all ages, with varying degrees of clinical urgency and illness severity, most of whom are undiagnosed and undifferentiated. Failure to recognise and respond to clinical deterioration during emergency care increases the incidence of high-mortality adverse events both during emergency care but also following the emergency care episode, irrespective of whether the patient is admitted to hospital or discharged.