Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) on Risk assessment tools, to assess vulnerable patients at Kauvery Hospital, Tennur

Lucy Grace. T*

Nurse Educator, Kauvery Hospital, Tennur, Trichy

*Correspondence: maha@kauveryhospital.com

Background

Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) on “Risk assessment tools used to assess the vulnerable patients” was a one-day program held on 21st June 2023 from 9 am to 5 pm at A-V Conference Hall, Kauvery Hospital, Tennur at Trichy.

This CNE Programme was planned to focus on creating awareness about the tools for risk assessment tools for vulnerable patients, in order to prevent complications through appropriate nursing care and to ensure safety & quality.

The CNE programme had 11 sessions:

The vulnerable patients risk assessment and its importance for preventive aspects of nursing care.
Triage Early Warning Score (TEWS) – Triage tool for prioritization
MORSE Scale – Fall risk assessment for prevention of fall and post fall assessment
BRADEN Scale for pressure injury risk assessment and Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH) chart for prevention of pressure Injury
WELLS Scale for the prevention of DVT
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)/National Early Warning Score (NEWS)/Visual Infusion Phlebitis (VIP) scale
World Health Organization Safe Surgery Checklist for prevention of errors.
Care bundle for the prevention of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) and Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) tool for infection control during construction work
SOAPIER tool for nursing care plan
Pain assessment tools used for prevention of pain
ISBAR / AIDET tool for communication

Brief review about the programme

The program was chaired by Ms. Mahalakshmi, Nursing Superintendent of Kauvery Hospital, Tennur and was organized by Ms. Kalaiyarasi, Nursing Supervisor, Kauvery Hospital, Tennur.

The program started at 9 a.m. with the statement of vision, mission and values of the organization, followed by the Kauvery anthem. 50 members participated in this programme, with 10 staff from KCN,10 staff from KHC and the remaining 30 staff from KTN, along with speakers.

We welcomed all the dignitaries and delegates. The programme started with pre-tests.

Morning Session

The first session was led by Ms. Lucy Grace, Nurse educator. During her presentation, she unfolded the theme and gave a brief overview of the topics. A detailed explanation of the vulnerable patient’s risk assessment, as well as its importance for preventive aspects of nursing care.

The second session was presented by Ms. Arputhamary, Assistant Nursing Superintendent. She explained in detail about TEWS â€“ Triage tool and prioritization. She clarified various concepts by showing interesting pictures and eye catching real to reel videos.

The third Session of the programme was presented by Ms. Ananthi, who spoke about the MORSE Scale – Fall Risk Assessment for the prevention of falls and post-fall assessment. In which she elaborated on the risk of falling, preventive measures, MORSE scale parameters as well as the post-fall assessment scales.

The next topic was taken by Ms. R. Kasthuri, Patient Safety Nurse on BRADEN Scale / PUSH Chart for prevention of pressure. She elaborately explained about the anatomy and physiology of the skin, pressure points, Stages, pathways and nursing intervention to prevent pressure injuries.

The fifth session was led by Ms. Bhuvaneshwari, Nursing Supervisor on WELLS Scale for the prevention of Deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In which she explained in detail about the DVT assessment, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tests, WELLS criteria’s and scoring and nursing intervention for prevention of DVT.

The sixth session was presented by Ms. G. Kasthuri, Nursing Incharge elaborated about the Glasgow coma scale (GCS), National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and Visual Infusion phlebitis (VIP) Scales. She clearly explained the Initial assessment and reassessment, early identification of warning signs of patient deterioration, EVM Scoring in GCS, Common Signs and symptoms of phlebitis.

The next session was presented by Ms. Valarmathy, Nursing Incharge. She explained surgical safety with the use of WHO safe surgical checklist for the prevention of surgical errors and clarified various concepts by using. In which she showed a video of the sign-in, time-out and sign-out process taking place inside the operation theatre.

Afternoon Session

The first session for the afternoon was taken by Ms. Suganya, Infection Control Nurse (ICN) She explained in detail about Care bundle for the prevention of HAI. She showed it as pictures and gave some puzzles and activities for care bundle and also explained about ICRA tool for infection control during construction or renovation activities on air and water quality.

SOAPIER tool for nursing care plan presented by Ms. Leema Rebekkal Rosy, Assistant Nursing Superintendent (ANS). She clearly and elaborately explained about the nursing care plan and highlighted the nursing diagnosis based on the problems, risk, well-being and how to use it through the SOAPIER tool in different conditions.

The next session was presented by Ms. Pallavi, PAAT Nurse. She explained and clarified various pain assessment tools used for prevention of pain. She explained the types of pain, physiological changes, assessment of pain, pharmacological management, pain assessment scales and nurses’ responsibilities for reducing and prevention of pain

The last presentation was presented by Ms. Sahaya Selvi, Assistant Nursing Superintendent (ANS) on ISBAR/AIDET tools for communication. In which she elaborated about the importance, benefits of effective communication, identify the communication challenges, how to prevent miscommunication errors by using ISBAR and AIDET tools.

After the last session we conducted a post- test for the delegates. We analysed the pre and post-test marks and distributed the prizes.

Feedback from delegates

The participants had provided overall feedback about the programme

The feedback includes:

Learned a lot of new things e.g: ICRA tool, WHO check list and QR scanning in OT, AIDET, SOAPIER in detail.
Improved more confident to work fearlessly on the patient bed side
AV presentation was very helpful and became more clear
Motivated us to participated and present in future programme.
All the presenters interacted with us while taking classes so we didn’t get struggle throughout the session

The programme ended at 5pm with vote of thanks followed by distribution of certificates and high tea.