New guidelines issued on ED care for children, public health emergencies, and cancer care. Evidence-based guidelines are crucial to ensuring a high standard of nursing care. Three new sets of guidelines address those standards.

* In its 2007 report Emergency Care for Children: Growing Pains, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified major shortcomings in ED care for children in the United States. The report spurred nurses and physicians to collaborate on guidelines addressing quality assurance measures, staff, and equipment. The new guidelines are available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/124/4/1233.

* The IOM also weighed in with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, offering guidance on how states can best develop policies and procedures for disaster situations, when shortages of equipment, drugs, and personnel may occur. Read the report at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12749.html.

* In another collaborative effort, guidelines issued jointly by the Oncology Nursing Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology address best practices for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Learn more at http://www.ons.org/media/ons/docs/education/ascoonsguidelines.pdf.