Background: Patient safety is a global health priority. Errors of omission, such as missed nursing care in hospitals, are frequent and may lead to adverse events. Emergency departments (ED) are especially vulnerable to patient safety errors, and the significance missed nursing care has in this context is not as well known as in other contexts. Aim: The aim of this scoping review was to summarize and disseminate research about missed nursing care in the context of EDs. Method: A scoping review following the framework suggested by Arksey and O’Malley was used to (1) identify the research question; (2) identify relevant studies; (3) select studies; (4) chart the data; (5) collate, summarize, and report the results; and (6) consultation. Results: In total, 20 themes were derived from the 55 included studies. Missed or delayed assessments or other fundamental care were examples of missed nursing care characteristics. EDs not staffed or dimensioned in relation to the patient load were identified as a cause of missed nursing care in most included studies. Clinical deteriorations and medication errors were described in the included studies in relation to patient safety and quality of care deficiencies. Registered nurses also expressed that missed nursing care was undignified and unsafe. Conclusion: The findings from this scoping review indicate that patients’ fundamental needs are not met in the ED, mainly because of the patient load and how the ED is designed. According to registered nurses, missed nursing care is perceived as undignified and unsafe.

 Blood gas analysis represents an important and frequently used clinical decision support. Spurious haemolysis is common at the emergency department (ED) and causes clinically relevant bias to many analyses. Blood gas analysers inability to identify hemolysis can therefore lead to clinical misinterpretations. The objective of this study was to assess the proportion of haemolytic blood gas samples performed at the ED and calculate the predictive values of a novel point-of-care solution for haemolysis detection. Approximately 100 µl of blood from anonymized syringes including venous or arterial blood was, directly after performed blood gas analysis, tested with the POC-Method (Helge H10 s-system, Hemcheck, Karlstad, Sweden) at the ED and result recorded. Thereafter the blood was centrifuged (2000 g) for 10 minutes, 100 µl of plasma put into vials and run in batches of 40 daily on an AU680 analyzer (Beckman Coulter, Brea, California, USA) used as reference method. The threshold for clinically relevant hemolysis was defined as ≥50 mg/dL free haemoglobin. Out of 1270 samples, haemolysis was detected in 7.9% (n = 100). The POC-method identified haemolytic samples with a sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 99%, positive and negative predictive values was 89% and 98% respectively. Spurious hemolysis is frequently present in blood gas samples at the ED and should be taken into consideration when assessed in patients. Errors could be detected directly at the point-of-care with a novel technology for hemolysis detection.