Authors

Laura Díaz Pascual, Francisca Esteban Haro, Mª Antonia Vázquez Leo

Position

Enfermera. Servicio de Urgencias del Hospital de la Cruz Roja de l´Hospitalet de Llogregat, Barcelona.

Contact address

C/ Igualdad. 36 - Ático 2ª. 08902 L´Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona.

Abstract

Objective: To describe in a global view the nursing activity in theobservational unit of the emergency room over its first year of service andto point out the relevance of building an space to allocate the patientsthat were on the halls, thus enhancing the quality of continuum andintegral care.

Design: Observational, descriptive and retrospective study.

Place: Consorcio hospitalario de la Cruz Roja de Hospitalet de Llobregat,Barcelona, level II.

Sample:From 2.250 admitted patients, 328 were selected as arandomized sample.

Instruments: The source of data was the general registration book of thearea for observation from where the selected variables were taken out.

Results: 57,6% (189) of the total patients were admitted in the area ofobservation until they get a stable condition. More than half of patients,54% (173) were admitted for 10 hours or less; 62,5% (200) weredischarged to a nursing unit and 30% (96) were discharge directly to theirhome.

Conclusions: The area of observation has registered a large volume ofattended patients. It has served as stabilization unit for patients waiting tobe admitted in nursing units. Although the area had a quickly rotation ofinputs and outputs of patients, the nursing care plan was started and thepatients had much more comfort and privacy.

Keywords:

area of observation; emergency roomnursing care

Versión en Español

Título:

Valoración de un área de observación en un Servicio de Urgencias