Karen Choate, MSN, RN, employee health and infection prevention at Hillcrest Hospital Claremore, has a passion for learning and helping others to improve their craft in the medical field.
Choate had the opportunity to display and discuss her master’s capstone presentation on her thesis project, “Intravenous (IV) medication education program for emergency nurses,” at the 2021 Oklahoma Nurses Association Nursing Convention.
“Intravenous (IV) insertion and management is an essential skill that all nurses in the emergency room (ER) should be proficient in performing; however, there is a lack of education about the volatile IV medications that patients require,” Choate said.
Choate was one of a dozen presenters at the convention. Incorporating a teaching plan, Choate’s project included two primary components. The first component utilized a reference chart and an in-depth medication card to help enhance knowledge and raise awareness of the risks of various medications. The second element of Choate’s project integrates a skills competency check-off list to help ER nurses achieve proficiency in inserting and maintaining IVs.
“This project is developed so that ER nurses can have an education program specific to the high-risk medications given in the ER and become skilled in administering vesicant medications,” she said. “The purpose of this project is to decrease adverse patient outcomes related to IV-related events and vesicant drug errors.”
Choate said she was proud to present at the ONA.
“I feel that it is important for nurses to be aware of the medications that they are giving, and that they need quick access to that information,” she said. “We need to be able to problem solve patient care issues and ensure there are adequate education programs and/or training so that we can decrease adverse patient outcomes.
“Each nurse can look at and assess a need wherever they work, then research that need and bring awareness to the need. When these needs are brought to the attention of other nurses such as in a poster presentation, then changes can be brought. It starts with you. What are you going to do? What need do you see? What can you do?”