When treating an ACOC, who should monitor the patients progress?
Nurses, nursing assistants, and other direct care staff should closely monitor each patient who is being treated for an ACOC. Nursing assistants in particular are critical participants in the monitoring process. Nursing managers and charge nurses should advise nursing assistants what to look for as they care for the patient and when to report their observations to a nurse, as well as about any changes anticipated in the patient’s care plan. Additionally, a review of the overall progress of each patient with an ACOC should be documented at least daily until the patient is stable and mostly asymptomatic. The review should include a summary of the patient’s overall condition and a comparison of actual progress with expected progress as noted in the original care plan. Some facilities use an incident follow-up form to document the condition of a patient with an ACOC during each shift for 3 days. This ensures that staff pay attention to the patient’s status until the ACOC is stable or resol