- Acute care often demands immediate responses to life-threatening situations.traffic accident 3 image by Jim Parkin from Fotolia.com
Acute care is health care delivered to patients experiencing sudden illness or trauma, according to "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary." By implication, long-term care is health care delivered to people whose conditions will likely persist over long periods. - Wherever care takes place, gloves help prevent the spread of blood-borne pathogens.farmaco image by Cristiano Pugno from Fotolia.com
To protect against blood-borne pathogens whether in acute care or long-term care, caregivers should wear clean gloves when touching body fluids, notes the book "Fundamentals of Nursing, Fourth Edition," by Ruth Craven and Constance Hirnle. - Acute care and long-term care may involve the same techniques and instruments.blood pressure image by Ivonne Wierink from Fotolia.com
Whether in an emergency or as periodically done in a nursing home, caregivers will likely use some of the same instruments, including thermometers, stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, timepieces, injection needles and intravenous lines. - Whether in acute or long-term care, patients may use the same drugs.drugs image by alimat from Fotolia.com
Analgesics, insulin, blood pressure medications, antibiotics and other drugs may find use as much in long-term care as in acute care. - A good caregiver senses the patient's feelings and concerns.Doctor examines the patient image by Ella from Fotolia.com
The nursing process, starting with assessment, diagnosis and intervention, applies wherever the nurse may encounter a person needing care. - The nurse may have to reconsider therapeutic alternatives and start over.nurse image by Peter Baxter from Fotolia.com
Whether returning to an intensive-care unit or to the room of a nursing-home resident, nurses should gauge how well interventions are working, observe Craven and Hirnle.
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