Nurses are the healthcare professionals most frequently performing health screening during an individual’s admission to the facility. Since the initial screening is meant to reveal the need for immediate attention, nurses must know what findings indicate an urgent concern. A systematic process for dental screening will direct appropriate attention to areas of need. Subjective A person’s medical and dental history…
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Correctional Nurse Clinical Practice Update: Dental Concepts I
Managing dental conditions is not a part of most nursing positions and little dental training is provided in nursing school. However, correctional nurses are most often the first healthcare staff to evaluate a dental complaint and make determinations regarding referrals for treatment and urgency of care delivery. Most intake screenings include a review of dental conditions. In the next few weeks,…
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Correctional Nurse Practice Update: Using the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Scope of Practice Decision-Making Framework
In our last post, we met LPN Suzanna, who had closed a 3 cm laceration on the forehead of her patient with Dermabond, even though she had not been formally trained in the procedure. She was instructed to perform the closure by the on-call provider, Dr. Smith. The wound healed well without any complications. When her supervisor questioned her the…
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