Professional Nursing I / PN 1
Safety
• infants to 20-40 y/o topics/causes of death
o Infants:
▪ Leading cause of death: MVA from ages 1-3
▪ Drowning, falls, choking, ingesting poison, SIDS, crib
suffocation
o Adolescent:
▪ Leading cause of death: MVA
▪ Homicides, sports and recreational injuries
o Adults:
▪ Unintentional poisonings from ages 35-54
▪ Workplace injuries and lifestyle injuries
• Alcohol abuse, stress, carelessness
• community hazard interventions
o Pollutants
▪ Air, water, chemical (gaseous fumes, asbestos, carbon
monoxide, noise, cigarette smoke)
o Pathogens
▪ Microorganism that can cause illness
• Food, vectors (mosquitoes) unclean water
o MVAs
▪ Leading cause of death in American adults and children
under 1 years old
• Major contributing factors: failure to use seatbelt and
proper car seats
• employee safety
o Nursing personnel are consistently listed in the top 10 for
musculoskeletal disorders
o Needle stick injuries
▪ Prevention:
• sharps container nearby, adequate lighting, do not
hand-pass exposed sharps from person to person,
dispose IMMEDIATELY, do NOT carry in pocket, use
scoop method
o Radiation injury
o Violence
▪ Patients, visitors, and/or staff
▪ Typically starts with anxiety and increases to verbal
aggression then physical aggression
• R.A.C.E
o Rescue
o Alert
o Contain
, o Extinguish
• “never events”
o Events that should never happen in a hospital; that can cause
death in a patient
▪ Foreign objects left in a patient after surgery
▪ Air embolism
▪ Administering the wrong type of blood
▪ Severe pressure ulcers
▪ Symptoms resulting from poorly controlled blood sugar
levels
▪ Surgical site infections
• Following certain elective procedures
o Certain orthopedic surgeries, bariatric surgery
for obesity
▪ Deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism
• Following a total knee and total hip replacement
procedures
• Falls- risks and preventions
o Risks:
▪ Poor vision, hypotension, history of falls, dizziness, pain
▪ Cognitive impairment, polypharmacy, arthritis, gait or
balance deficits
▪ Age greater than 80 years old
o Preventions
▪ Home:
• Handrails in the bathroom, no rugs or non-slip rugs,
keep floors non-wet or wet floor sign and clear floors.
Child proof the home
• Well lighting and proper vision and eyewear up to
date. Making sure they are wearing their hearing
aids. Proper shoes or footwear.
• Feel safe in their home. Environmental factor outside
of the home. Using proper assistive devices: height,
uses appropriately, not out of date. Make sure stairs
are safe with handrails.
• Medications: taking, side effects, teaching,
interactions. Make sure fire alarms and carbon
monoxide alarms are working and have batteries,
have fire extinguisher. Proper water and heat.
• Children: keeping heat, knives, and medications,
chemicals away from children. Choking and CPR.
Blinds and cords