Selection criteria examples for nurses

In three years as a Registered Nurse in a busy emergency department, I've cared for patients across every triage category. During a winter surge, I was allocated four acute cubicles, including a patient whose condition was deteriorating with suspected sepsis. I recognised the early warning signs, escalated straight away using our rapid response criteria, and started the sepsis pathway with the doctor while keeping my other three patients on track with observations and medications. The patient was transferred to ICU within the hour, and my nurse unit manager used the case at our next safety huddle.

On our surgical ward, I noticed falls often happened overnight when patients got up on their own. I reviewed six months of incident reports with our clinical educator and found most falls involved patients on new pain medication. I proposed adding a falls-risk check to the evening handover and a bedside sign reminding patients to call for help. After a three-month trial, overnight falls dropped from nine to three, and two other wards have since adopted the change.

I was caring for an elderly patient with dementia whose daughter was anxious and frustrated by mixed messages from different staff. I arranged a short family meeting with the treating doctor and social worker, explained the care plan in plain language, and agreed one daily phone update from the nurse in charge. The daughter told our manager it was the first time she felt listened to, and the family raised no further concerns during the admission.