Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Emergency Department

Omaha, Nebraska

Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Emergency Department is a 29-bed Pediatric-only emergency department, seeing approximately 35,000 patients per year. We are a Level-II pediatric trauma center verified by the American College of Surgeons, and a 4-time Magnet facility.

In the Lantern Award application, our Emergency Department highlighted many initiatives focused on patient outcomes, staff satisfaction and safety and nurse autonomy through evidence-based practice. Multiple nurse-initiated interventions were added to an already robust protocol, all as a result of staff-led evidence-based practice projects. Examples include a revamped age-based approach to patients presenting with chest pain, and intranasal fentanyl upon arrival for patients with obvious deformity fractures. To meet the needs of our larger new ED, we implemented creative staffing plans and introduced multiple new roles including paramedics, LPNs and EMTs. Ongoing monitoring of many nursing quality metrics allows us to continually improve education and processes to ensure the best possible care for our patients.