NURSES Day this week presented an opportunity to celebrate the dedication, skill and compassion demonstrated by emergency nurses across the Hunter New England Health Area and the vital role they play in hospitals.

Armidale Hospital director of nursing, Sally Bristow, said it is important that the community acknowledges the work emergency nurses do each day to provide high quality and efficient treatment for patients.

“Our emergency nurses are at the front line of patient care,” Ms Bristow said.

“They are often the first point of contact for patients visiting Armidale Hospital and work to ensure that patients and their families are comfortable and informed during their stay in emergency.”

Emergency nurses work as part of an emergency department team to evaluate and treat patients who have suffered a minor or major trauma, prioritising the urgency of their care and providing emotional support to the patient and their family.

“Emergency nurses are highly skilled and treat a diverse range of patients from someone who has been involved in a major car accident, to an elderly person with a broken hip or a sick child with a rash,” Ms Bristow said.

Ms Bristow said the day is a good opportunity to remind the community of the appropriate use of emergency departments to assist emergency nurses and other medical staff to treat patients as efficiently as possible.

“To assist our hard working emergency nurses it’s important to remember that emergency departments are for people requiring immediate medical attention for urgent, unexpected conditions,” she said.

“While we wouldn’t turn anyone away, our priority is to treat the most serious cases first.

“This is why emergency departments have a ‘triage’ system in place to ensure that people needing urgent medical treatment are cared for first. They do not operate on a first-come-first-served basis.

“When a patient arrives in the emergency department a triage nurse will assess them as soon as possible to determine the severity of their illness or injury and an appropriate timeframe for the patient to be treated will be assigned based on a triage category assessment.

“By keeping this in mind and being patient when attending an emergency department, the community can greatly assist our emergency nurses and other emergency department staff.”