Friday, February 25, 2000

These are among the 35 recommendations issued by the five-member jury examining Lisa Shore's death: 
New nurses must receive comprehensive training in the care of patients on opiate drug treatment. 

A relief nurse should be added to all "long-night" and "long-day" shifts. 

No nurse should be responsible for more than five patients at a time. 

When a nurse pages a doctor for urgent consultation, five minutes should not pass before repaging. If a second attempt is unsuccessful, the nurse must find an alternate source. 

A doctor must ask for the vital signs of patients in all telephone conversations with nurses. 

In the event of an unexpected or unexplained death, all those involved with the patient's care within the previous 12 hours must be available for an interview with the coroner. 

Nurses must review the emergency nursing notes, doctors orders, flow charts and vital-sign assessments for all patients admitted from the emergency room. 

When the family of a deceased patient requests detailed information about the circumstances, every effort should be made to respond "quickly, accurately and openly."