JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY NURSING

room p r o m i s i n g , "I'll tell your h u s b a n d . " I real - ized I was n e v e r to see her a g a i n as she d id no t s u r v i v e the surgery .

It s t ruck m e that I was one of the last faces she was to see before she died. I was an unfamil iar nu r se in an unfamil iar place at the very end of this pe r son ' s

life, wh ich e n d e d in a place she never i n t e n d e d to go. Half an hour later, I me t her h u s b a n d and con- veyed her last words to him. The s a m e h a n d tha t held his wife 's hand now held his, as the r e s iden t broke the n e w s of her death. I often th ink of this cou- ple and hope I did enough, was h u m a n enough.

During this same period another nurse was try- ing to help the driver of the car (who sus t a ined only minor injuries) deal wi th the enormi ty of his actions. As his family came in, their grief and guilt for the vic- t ims and their families was palpable. Again, a nurse

was there. We should never get caugh t up in the t echn ica l

aspects of our role as our sole benef i t to our pat ients . By always keep ing the h u m a n touch, we then know at the end of each shift t ha t we did enough, we were enough.--Deborah Giedosh, RN, St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Sioux City, Iowa

More on dressing the part

Dear Editor.

When I read the Gues t Editorial, "Dressing the Part," (J Emerg Nurs 1996;22:267-8) my react ion was, "Yes! .... Right On!" and "Amen!"

Thank you for pu t t ing into wr i t ing wha t has b e e n rolling a round in my head for years.

I am an ED manager . In my depa r tmen t I require whi te for my regis tered nurses . I gave in to whi te scrubs, provided they are wrinkle-free, and whi te sports shoes, provided they are clean. A navy or royal blue jacket over the whi te is allowed. They some- t imes g rumble w h e n the latest catalog arrives wi th all the color choices.

I also wear whi te uniforms and somet imes my cap, which gives nurses and phys ic ians some th i ng to give me a hard t ime about. However, there is no doubt we are nurses and we often are compl imen ted about our attire by the public.

It has b e e n rumored in the d e p a r t m e n t and hospi ta l tha t w h e n I ret ire or die, wh icheve r comes first, the ED staff will be in co lo r ed /pa t t e rne d scrubs .

Thanks aga in for the article. It was just great. I pos ted it in the emergency d e p a r t m e n t and shared it with other managers.--Marlene Sanders, RN, CEN, Emergency Department Nurse Manager, Cody, Wyoming

"C-Spine" does not mean "full spine"

Dear Editor: This letter is in response to Mary Gunne l s '

"Weather-Related Trauma" (J Emerg Nurs 1996;

22:466-7.) It is a very in teres t ing, informative article.

I am, however, conce rned by the the use of the

phrase "full cervical sp ine immobil izat ion" in the sec

end paragraph. If the pa t i en t in the article was

indeed brought to an e m e r g e n c y d e p a r t m e n t with

only his c e r v i c a l sp ine immobil ized, after abdomina l

t r auma severe enough to result in an eviscerat ion, I

would hope the local EMS professionals would be

r ep r imanded for providing s u b s t a n d a r d care.

More realistically, I p r e sume the pa t ien t ' s entire

sp ine was immobilized: cervical, thoracic, lumbar,

sacral, and coccyx. I am frustrated by the widespread

use of "C-spine immobil izat ion" to m e a n "full sp ine

immobil izat ion." Al though it is widely u sed and com-

monly unders tood, I fear the repercuss ions in a legal

set t ing. Imagine the following scenario:

Attorney. "The chart says, 'C-spine immobi-

lized.' You only immobi l ized the first seven bones in

my cl ient 's sp ine? His spinal cord was d a m a g e d at

T4; he will never walk again]"

RN: "I meant the ent i re sp ine was immobil ized;

we used a cervical collar, head blocks, and back

board like we always do."

Attorney. "Well, if you did not chart it, you did

not do it!"

Think about it. Lisa P Gwin, RN, BSN, CEN, Navapache Regional Medical Center, Show Low, Arizona

Information on videos and CDs for ED patient rooms sought

Dear Editor. I am looking for informat ion on the use of multi-

med ia in the e me r ge nc y d e p a r t m e n t for pa t i en t edu-

cation. We are in the process of bu i ld ing a n e w

d e p a r t m e n t and will be incorpora t ing video moni tors

in all pa t i en t rooms. These moni tors will be t ied into

a central video sys tem capable of r u n n i n g both video-

tape a nd CD. I would apprec ia te any c o m m e n t s or

sugges t ions tha t readers ma y have either to share

their own exper iences wi th this type of a sys t em or

refer me to someone who does. Please feel free to

write to me at 8498 Carter St., Overland Park, KS

66212 or e-mail me at rescsteve@aol.com. Thank you

for your assistance.--Steven A. Weinman, RN, CEN, Emergency Services, Saint Luke's Northland Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri

April 1997 97