ACLS License and Qualifications Must Be Mandatory for All Accidents - Essay Example

ACLS license and qualifications must be mandatory for all accident and emergency department" Name Institution Course Tutor Date Introduction “ACLS license and qualifications must be mandatory for all accident and emergency department" Working as a registered nurse in Oman for 13 years is a good experience to understand what is required in hospital departments. Different hospital departments have different requirements and qualifications to be met by medical workers. In the department of accident and emergency, medical workers must have the necessary qualifications and advanced cardiac life support license. Advanced cardiac/ cardiovascular life support (ACLS) means a combination of clinical interventions that are applied in cases of urgent treatment of emergencies, stroke, as well as the cardiac arrest (Wayne, Didwania, Feinglass, Fudala, Barsuk, & McGaghie, 2008, 56). The support requires one to have the necessary skills and knowledge in order to deploy the interventions effectively. ACLS license and qualifications are very important in the practice of a professional because one takes care of people from emergencies and complex cardiovascular problems. These are mandatory requirements in the department in order for health practitioners to offer quality care to the patients. The purpose of this essay is to identify why it is mandatory for medical workers serving in the accident and emergency department to have ACLS license and qualifications. The essay begins by looking at the background of these requirements especially due to increased road accidents in Oman. The essay then continues by examining issues related to ACLS license and the accident and emergency department. The essay concludes by analysis of the paper’s content and the necessity of having ACLS license and qualifications in accident and emergency department. Topic background Road accidents are major causes of increased cases in the accident and emergency departments. It is apparent that, due to road accidents, the rate of mortality tends to increase if victims are not well taken care of. Among many countries, Oman is now classified as a top country in the statistics of road traffic accidents, which increases the mortality rates among youth. Due to increased road accidents, hospitals in Oman especially in the accident and emergency departments receive many patients requiring urgent and immediate care. According to the argument put forth by Wayne, et al. (2008, 57), accident and emergency cases require a quick and accurate response in order to save the lives of the patients and to manage their critical condition. It is apparent that, there were times when any medical professional even without the ACLS license and the required qualifications served the department. This led to increase in the mortality rate of patients supposed to be served and taken care of in the accident and emergency department. Youths are exposed to road accidents easily in Oman because they are the majority in the country’s population and the travel a lot compared to other age groups in Oman. This makes the level of deaths among the youths to increase from time to time. The issues raise the need of ACLS license and qualifications to all medical practitioners serving in the accident and emergency department. How to acquire ACLS license and the necessary requirements ACLS license is a document provided by medical practitioners serving in the accident and emergency department and it shows they have the necessary qualifications, skills, and experience enough to serve in the department. ACLS certification is only provided to professionals who are well trained after having gone through nursing studies and practicing in hospital settings. Moreover, one has to go through some tests with a testing organization, which does not teach the ACLS students, but assumes they already have skills associated with experiences and knowledge through the healthcare basics. These tests are engaged in order to understand one’s competence and skills in serving in the basic nursing setting and providing the required care to people with minor health problems. ACLS students require having practiced in departments working with some low-level life supporting systems, such as the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This is where one gains experience in dealing with emergency cases and providing adequate and quality care. It is apparent that, during the nursing course, a nursing student learns the basics and he or she requires having enough time of field practice in order to be qualified. Current ACLS guidelines ACLS care is very necessary to all accident and emergency victims since they get to hospitals while in critical condition requiring urgent attention from the medical practitioners. In order to respond effectively to different kinds of emergencies and accident cases, all health professionals, such as nurses, emergency practitioners, physicians and the paramedics must have obtained ACLS license before practicing in the accident and emergency departments. According to the American Heart Association Guidelines regarding the cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the emergency cardiovascular care, it is necessary to provide the right care to patients in the accident and emergency department. Once a patient experiences a post cardiac arrest, the medical workers should provide immediate care to enable him or her get to the unprompted heart circulation. The patient requires accurate maintenance of oxygen circulation in the body and optimal ventilation, as well as consideration of the airway. Ultimately, efficient removal of carbon dioxide and improvement of oxygen level in the body of the patient allows him or her recover quickly from cardiac arrest. It is necessary to treat the patient for hypotension whereby all manageable causes are treated, and IV bolus and 12-lead ECG checked. The nurse should also follow all commands related to the ACLS care reflect on the induced hypothermia, provide increased suspicion of the AMI, and carry out the coronary reperfusion. This leads to provision of quality critical nursing care to the patient. It is also necessary to check the breathing system of the patient. How the guidelines relate to work in accident and emergency department The above ACLS care guidelines are closely related to nursing practice especially when serving in the accident and emergency department. The guidelines allow the nurse to provide necessary and quality care to the patients in critical condition. The guidelines also allow a health practitioner to meet the interests and requirements of the patient in need of ACLS care. Once the above guidelines are followed, they enhance reduction of death rate and quick recovery of accident and emergency victims. Use of the guidelines when serving patients It is apparent that due to lack of necessary qualifications and ACLS certification to serve in the accident and emergency department, the above guidelines are rarely followed. This leads to increase in mortality rate in Oman, as well as other countries. Many health practitioners lack the ACLS license and the necessary qualifications of serving in the department, thus failure of understanding of effectiveness of following the ACLS care guidelines when serving patients. There are no particular rules and regulations followed strictly to ensure that all medical workers follow these guidelines as they serve in the department. Why ACLS must be mandatory among all Accident and Emergency department staff nurses It is necessary for all medical practitioners serving in the accident and emergency department to have the right qualifications that would allow them to provide proper critical care to emergency and accident patients in the department. A professional in the accident and emergency department deals with people having gone through solemn medical emergencies. In these departments, health practitioners deal with major emergency cases, such as the heart arrhythmia. Sometimes the medical workers are required to work alone in providing life support care to patients. This requires them to have high level of skills and to have confidence in using the necessary techniques (Wayne, et al. 2008, 60). However, one has to be proficient enough to use the applicable equipments. It is necessary for the health practitioners in the accident and emergency department to have clear understanding of the current and advanced information, as well as techniques. It is necessary for medical workers providing ACLS care to be provided with regular recertification for duration of two years in order to be updated about the current information. The emergency department requires a medical practitioner to understand how to perform x-rays and laboratory tests and this requires one to have high level of skills and experience. The staff nurses in the accident and emergency department are required to manage the critical condition of the accident victims before recommending their medication or the treatment. This is where the staff nurse works towards saving the life of the accident victim by stopping the bleeding and allowing the patient to be in a managed condition. The ACLS care has to be provided by medical practitioners with clear understanding of problems suffered by emergency patients and one has to be available throughout the shift. Emergency response has to be done by people with proper understanding of nursing standards and guidelines in order to avoid. Qualifications and ACLS certification is necessary because one cannot guess on what to do when providing care to the accident or emergency victim. It is clear that. nurses and other medical workers in the accident and emergency department deals with all people from all diversities, regardless of sex or age, thus the need of enough knowledge, which is a requirement during certification. In these departments, majority of patients go through surgery in order to manage their critical condition. The department is capable of providing some clinical services that enhance treatment of various problems presented by patients and they are urgent and require immediate care. The conditions of patients in the department are in most cases life threatening since patients retain severe illnesses and major injuries. The department requires people who are quick to respond to emergency cases and medical workers with high competence in providing required clinical care. The medical practitioners have to understand how to allay the stress that is related to emergencies, and accidents. It is apparent that ACLS guidelines require the patients to be treated within very few hours whereby they are released from the department to other departments for more treatment. It is the obligation of the medical workers to involve patients in decision-making regarding their treatment and they should be kept comfortable throughout their presence in the department. It is also necessary to keep the patients informed about different investigations associated with their conditions. The accident and emergency department is always on the eyes of all people in health care settings because this is where complicated issues requiring specialist care are presented. The acute illnesses presented in the department require medical workers who are dedicated and committed to their roles in order to try to reduce the mortality rate caused by road accidents and other causes of emergency cases. The patients in the department should be provided with the best opportunity to recover from their condition through provision of specialized emergency care, as well as treatment services. Ultimately, patients in the accident and emergency department suffer from traumatic and non-traumatic medical, as well as surgical conditions that make them require immediate ACLS care. The importance of ACLS qualifications in saving lives and reducing mortality rates Saving lives of people after road accidents and emergencies require one who manages to think critically and apply valuable strategies in decision-making process. It is apparent that, patients in the accident and emergency departments get there while in critical condition, thus the need of high level of care. Mortality rate increases from time to time in the accident and emergency departments because of lack of provision of necessary and urgent care to the patients. Technology keeps on changing with time and this requires a medical worker to be updated with the latest information in order to provide quality care to the patients. Moreover, the machines techniques and equipments used in the health care settings keeps on changing with technology advancement. In cases of medical workers who are not well trained regarding the ACLS skills, they might make some mistakes when providing ACLS care and lead to the death of a patient. Appropriate model of change In order to ensure medical workers in the department have the ACLS license and the necessary qualifications of providing quality care, qualification documents should be requested from the medical workers by the hospital management. All the medical professionals in the department should be engaged in an advanced training whereby they get updates on the latest and effective information associated with providing critical care in the department. All clinicians should be provided with leaflets having the current ACLS care guidelines in order to refer to them whenever they face difficulties in providing effective care in the department. Those medical workers who do not adhere to the mandatory requirement of ACLS certification and qualifications should be transferred to other departments and be replaced with qualified nurses. Since the cases of road accidents and emergency cases are increasing with time, mandatory requirements of qualifications and ACLS certification will enhance reduction of impacts of the accidents. It will be possible to save many lives and enhance quick recovery of the accident and emergency victims. High supervision of medical workers in the department will make many of them come out, look for the required license, and seek to gain the necessary qualifications. Implementation of the change This will be possible through visiting a number of accident and emergency departments in Oman and looking at the files having medical workers’ qualifications. It is necessary to motivate management in different hospitals to adhere to the requirements and to take the issue of increased mortality rate seriously. All medical workers in emergency departments would be called for different meetings whereby they are addressed on the importance of having ACLS license and the necessary qualifications of serving in the departments. Medical practitioners should also be reminded about the condition of patients dealt with in the department and the care required. Campaigns would be done to create awareness of the need to reduce mortality rate associated with victims of emergency cases and accidents. Challenges There are various challenges that are likely to be met while making the practice of making ACLS license and qualifications mandatory to all health workers working in the accident and emergency departments. These challenges comprises of; unwillingness and attitude of the medical workers. This is where the health practitioners are not willing to come up and go through advanced training in order to improve their skills. The health care practitioners might also feel to be having the necessary qualifications and fail to see the need of ACLS certification as a result of having long time experience of serving in the department. Time limit might also be challenge in implementing the change because medical workers are in most cases busy attending patients. Increased level of road accidents might also be a challenge because as the level of accidents increases, the workload of the health practitioners also increases. Another challenge might be lack of good number of medical practitioners serving in this department and those willing to serve. This department requires workers with high confidence, courage, and competence in dealing with people in critical conditions. Addressing the challenges In order to respond effectively to these challenges, it would be necessary to make it mandatory for the required number of medical practitioners in the department to go through the essential training and tests. Health care practitioners would be made to work in shifts whereby some of the serve patients while others go through the training and tests. The time for training and tests would be made minimal in order to allow the staff nurses in the department continue with their work. All the medical practitioners not willing to seek for the qualifications in order to work in the department should be taken to other departments that suit their qualifications. Conclusion The topic of the project is very relevant because it creates understanding of providing quality and critical care to patients whereby the medical practitioners have the required qualifications. This would also enhance reduction of mortality rate resulting from road accidents and other emergency cases. It is necessary for medical workers to serve with the necessary licenses and qualifications in order to meet the interests and needs of the clients and patients and to help save the lives of patients in critical conditions. This topic will help improve the working in the accident and emergency departments as patients will be offered quality care and the nurses will not face difficulties dealing with critical cases. It is necessary to allow all medical practitioners understand the necessity of having qualifications in their service. Implementation of these changes will enhance reduction of death rate associated with emergence and road accidents. Careless handling of patients in the emergency department will reduce, as medical workers will adhere to their qualifications and policies of the department. Health care quality will also improve in all hospital departments in general. Reference Wayne, D. B., Didwania, A., Feinglass, J., Fudala, M. J., Barsuk, J. H., & McGaghie, W. C. 2008. Simulation-based education improves quality of care during cardiac arrest team responses at an academic teaching hospital: a case-control study. Chest Journal, 133(1), 56-61. Read More