A Triage Model for Chemical Warfare Casualties.

CONTEXT: The main objectives of triage are securing patient safety during the process of emergency diagnosis and treatment, and reduction of waiting time for medical services and transport. To date, there is no triage system for nerve agent victims. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: This systematic review proposes a new triage system for patients exposed to nerve agents. Information regarding clinical signs and symptoms of intoxication with nerve agents, primary treatments, and classification of patients were extracted from the literature. All related articles were reviewed. Subsequently, specialists from different disciplines were invited to discuss and draft protocols. RESULTS: Finalized triage tables summarizing the classification methods and required protocols in the field were designed after several meetings. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed triage protocol encompasses aspects from most of the existing triage systems to create a single overarching guide for unifying the triage process. The proposed protocol can serve as a base for the designing future guidelines.

Consequences of nursing procedures measurement on job satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Job satisfaction among nurses has consequences on the quality of nursing care and accompanying organizational commitments. Nursing procedure measurement (NPM) is one of the essential parts of the performance-oriented system. This research was performed in order to determining the job satisfaction rate in selected wards of Baqiyatallah (a. s.) Hospital prior and following the NPM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An interventional research technique designed with an evaluation study approach in which job satisfaction was measured before and after NPM within 2 months in selected wards with census sampling procedure. The questionnaire contained two major parts; demographic data and questions regarding job satisfaction, salary, and fringe benefits. Data analyzed with SPSS version 13. RESULTS: Statistical evaluation did not reveal significant difference between demographic data and satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction of nurses (before and after nursing procedures measurement). Following NPM, the rate of salary and benefits dissatisfaction decreased up to 5% and the rate of satisfaction increased about 1.5%, however the statistical tests did not reveal a significant difference. Subsequent to NPM, the rate of job value increased (P = 0.019), whereas the rate of job comfort decreased (P = 0.033) significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring procedures do not affect the job satisfaction of ward staff or their salary and benefits. Therefore, it is suggested that the satisfaction measurement compute following nurses' salary and therefore benefits adjusted based on NPM. This is our suggested approach.