Novel Spanish Translators for Acute Care Nurses and Physicians: Usefulness and Effect on Practitioners’ Stress

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 545-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Bernard ◽  
Audra Summers ◽  
Jennifer Thomas ◽  
Myrna Ray ◽  
Anna Rockich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Survey Period ◽  
Acute Care Nurses ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Stress Levels ◽  
Nurses And Physicians

• Background Language barriers are significant impediments to providing quality healthcare, and increased stress levels among nurses and physicians are associated with these barriers. However, little evidence supports the usefulness of a translation tool specific to healthcare. • Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of a novel English-Spanish translator designed specifically for nurses and physicians. The hypothesis was that the translator would be useful and that use of the translator would decrease stress levels among nurses and physicians caring for Spanish-speaking patients. • Methods Novel English-Spanish translators were developed entirely on the basis of input from critical care nurses and physicians. After 7 months of use, users completed surveys. Usefulness of the translator and stress levels among users were reported. • Results A total of 60% of nurses (n = 32) and 71% (n = 25) of physicians responded to the survey. A total of 96% of physicians and 97% of nurses considered the language barrier an impediment to delivering quality care. Nurses reported significantly more stress reduction than did physicians (P = .01). Most nurses and physicians had used the translator during the survey period. Overall, 91% of nurses and 72% of physicians found that the translator met their needs at the bedside some, most, or all of the time. All nurses thought that they most likely would use the translator in the future. • Conclusions The translator was useful for most critical care nurses and physicians surveyed. Healthcare providers, especially nurses, experienced decreased stress levels when they used the translator.

Seeing the Patient and Family Through: Nurses and Physicians Experiences With Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy in the ICU

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra L. Wiegand ◽  
Jooyoung Cheon ◽  
Giora Netzer
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Therapy Decision ◽  
Nurses And Physicians

Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy at the end of life is a complex phenomenon. Intensive care nurses and physicians are faced with caring for patients and supporting families, as these difficult decisions are made. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experience of critical care nurses and physicians participating in the process of withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to guide this qualitative investigation. Interviews were conducted with critical care nurses and physicians from 2 medical centers. An inductive approach to data analysis was used to understand similarities between the nurses and the physicians’ experiences. Methodological rigor was established, and data saturation was achieved. The main categories that were inductively derived from the data analysis included from novice to expert, ensuring ethical care, uncertainty to certainty, facilitating the process, and preparing and supporting families. The categories aided in understanding the experiences of nurses and physicians, as they worked individually and together to see patients and families through the entire illness experience, withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy decision-making process and dying process. Understanding the perspectives of health-care providers involved in the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy process will help other health-care providers who are striving to provide quality care to the dying and to their families.

scholarly journals Critical Care Nurses’ Beliefs About and Reported Management of Anxiety

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan K. Frazier ◽  
Debra K. Moser ◽  
Linda K. Daley ◽  
Sharon McKinley ◽  
Barbara Riegel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Pharmacological Management ◽  
Anxiety Management ◽  
Reduction Techniques ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Communication Interventions

• Background Anxiety is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Critical care nurses are uniquely positioned to reduce anxiety in their patients. Critical care nurses’ beliefs about and frequency of use of strategies to reduce anxiety have not been studied.• Objectives To explore critical care nurses’ beliefs about the importance of anxiety management and to describe nurses’ reported use of strategies to manage anxiety in their patients.• Methods A random sample (N = 2500) of members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses was asked to complete the Critical Care Nurse Anxiety Identification and Management Survey.• Results Respondents (n = 783) were primarily female (92%), white (88.5%) staff nurses (74.1%) who thought that anxiety is potentially harmful (mean, 4.1; SD, 0.8; range, 1 = no harm to 5 = life-threatening harm), that anxiety management is important (mean, 4.8; SD, 0.6; range, 1 = not important to 5 = very important), and that effective anxiety management is beneficial (mean, 4.6; SD, 0.6; range, 1 = no benefit to 5 = profound benefit). A majority commonly used pharmacological management; most also used information and communication interventions. Fewer subjects used the presence of patients’ family members to alleviate patients’ anxiety; few reported using stress-reduction techniques.• Conclusion Most respondents thought that treating anxiety is important and beneficial. Commonly used strategies included pharmacological relief of anxiety and pain and information and communication interventions. Although these strategies are useful, they may not effectively reduce anxiety in all patients.

Assisted suicide, recent judicial decisions, and implications for critical care nurses

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
GS Wlody
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Death With Dignity Act ◽  
The Individual

The passage of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act on November 8, 1994, heralded a wake-up call for healthcare professionals. Oregon, the first state to systematically "ration care" was thought to be a fertile ground for testing new and, some say, radical concepts in healthcare and government. Although the act was not implemented because it was tied up in legal action until February 1997, the fact that more than 50% of the voters in Oregon voted for it mandates that healthcare providers listen to their patients. Patients want more control of their pain, the way they die, and the resources spent on their care in the final days of their lives. Thoughts of future suffering engender great fear on the part of healthcare consumers. Concern exists that physician-assisted suicide in the ICU will affect not only physicians but also nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and other clinicians as terminally ill patients make requests for assisted suicide while in the acute and critical care setting of the hospital. Critical care nurses must examine their value systems, review the Code for Nurses, and make their own decisions about participation in deliberately ending lives of patients. With the impending Supreme Court decision due in July 1997, the court may leave these issues to the individual states, opening the door for assisted suicide to occur throughout the United States. Therefore, the possibility will remain that critical care nurses may be put in positions in which physicians are providing assistance to patients who wish to commit suicide and are requesting nurses' assistance to do so.

Promoting Certification

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-82
Author(s):  
LuAnn Staul
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
American Association ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Professional Careers

The mission of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses focuses on providing nurses with expert knowledge to promote delivery of excellent, safe, quality care to acutely and critically ill patients and their families. Chapters consist of professional leaders in a community who carry on the mission work of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses at the local level. Chapters can emphasize the value of certification and continuing education, because they offer a wide spectrum of opportunities to meet the learning and developmental needs of nurses as they advance in their professional careers. This article will highlight strategies that can be implemented by local chapters to facilitate and promote certification.

American Association Of Critical-Care Nurses’ National Survey of Facilities and Units Providing Critical Care

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin T. Kirchhoff ◽  
Nancy Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Quality Indicators ◽  
American Association ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Critical Care Units

• Background Little information is available nationally about critical care units and nurses. What is known about nurses in hospitals is generally not broken down among all the specialties. • Objectives To describe issues of workforce, compensation, and care specific to critical care units and nurses who work in them. • Methods The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses conducted a survey of randomly selected facilities with critical care units in the United States. Facilities were solicited via e-mail to respond to a survey on the World Wide Web and provide information on operations, evaluations, nursing staff reimbursement and incentives, staffing, and quality indicators. Responding facilities also provided contact information for units in the facilities. Those units were surveyed about operations, acuity systems, staffing, policies on visitation and end-of-life care, administrative structure, documentation, certification, professional advancement, vacancy/floating, staff satisfaction, orientation, association membership, wages, advanced practice nursing, and quality indicators. • Results The initial response rate (120 of 658 eligible facilities) was 18.2%, and 300 of 576 solicited units nominated by the facilities responded, yielding a 52.1% response rate for the second phase. • Conclusions These survey data define the scope and intensity of services offered and provide more specific figures about staffing issues and unit practices than has been accessible before. Healthcare providers may use this information for benchmarking purposes, especially for instances in which the tables provide data for each particular type of critical care unit.

Readiness of critical care physicians and nurses to handle requests for organ donation

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Evanisko ◽  
CL Beasley ◽  
LE Brigham ◽  
C Capossela ◽  
GR Cosgrove ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Brain Death ◽  
Organ Donation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Donation Process ◽  
Nurses And Physicians ◽  
Effective Procedures

BACKGROUND: Critical care nurses and physicians usually care for those patients whose condition progresses to brain death and are also often responsible for requesting organ donation from the family of a brain-dead patient. We hypothesized that staff support, knowledge, and training levels would be significantly associated with organ donation rates. OBJECTIVE: To assess the readiness of critical care staff to successfully handle requests for organ donation. METHODS: A total of 1061 critical care staff from 28 hospitals in four separate regions of the United States completed a questionnaire that assessed (1) factual knowledge about organ donation, (2) understanding of brain death, (3) previous training in procedures for requesting donations, and (4) comfort levels with the donation process. RESULTS: Staff training in effective procedures for requesting organ donations was significantly correlated with hospitals' donation rates. Less than a third of respondents, however, had received training in explaining brain death to and requesting organ donation from a grieving family. In hospitals with high rates of organ donation, 52.9% of staff had received training; in hospitals with low rates of organ donation, 23.5% of staff had received training. Levels of factual knowledge about organ donation and brain death were unexpectedly low but were not significantly related to hospitals' rates of organ donation. CONCLUSIONS: Training of critical care nurses and physicians in effective procedures for requesting organ donation is significantly associated with higher rates of organ donation, yet two thirds of critical care staff report no relevant training. Consequently, critical care staff cannot be considered ready to effectively handle requests for organ donation.

scholarly journals Investing in compassion: exploring mindfulness as a strategy to enhance interpersonal relationships in healthcare practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Moll ◽  
Andrea Frolic ◽  
Brenda Key
Keyword(s):  
Compassion Fatigue ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Program Analysis ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Personal Impact

Healthcare is a human enterprise where provider-patient interactions are a critical part of the therapeutic process. Unfortunately many healthcare providers are at risk of burnout or compassion fatigue that can detract from quality care. Mindfulness-based interventions have proven efficacy for reducing stress among healthcare workers, but there is limited evidence regarding its impact on interpersonal communication. The purpose of this mixed-methods, non-randomized intervention study was to track the inter-personal impact of a nine-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on healthcare employees in two large hospitals. Pre and post group surveys were completed by 125 participants, tracking changes in empathy and symptoms of burnout, as well as gathering feedback about the program. Focus groups were also conducted with a sample of 12 participants one year later to explore their impressions of the sustained impact of the program. Analysis of the survey data indicated a significant increase in both cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy, as well as significant decrease in the indicators of burnout. Many participants described an increased ability to listen mindfully to others, and that they were more tolerant and compassionate, with less emotional reactivity and better skills in managing conflict. Focus group participants indicated that they were able to integrate and apply principles of mindfulness into their day-to-day communications both within and outside of work. The findings provide a compelling argument for the value of mindfulness in not only building resilience, but enhancing communication in the context of healthcare work.

scholarly journals Healthcare providers’ perspectives on use of the national guideline for family planning services in Amhara Region, Ethiopia: a qualitative study

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e023403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gizachew Assefa Tessema ◽  
Judith Streak Gomersall ◽  
Caroline O Laurence ◽  
Mohammad Afzal Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Northwest Ethiopia ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
Amhara Region ◽  
Support Provision ◽  
Quality Healthcare

ObjectiveTo explore healthcare providers’ views on barriers to and facilitators of use of the national family planning (FP) guideline for FP services in Amhara Region, Ethiopia.DesignQualitative study.SettingNine health facilities including two hospitals, five health centres and two health posts in Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia.ParticipantsTwenty-one healthcare providers working in the provision of FP services in Amhara Region.Primary and secondary outcome measuresSemistructured interviews were conducted to understand healthcare providers’ views on barriers to and facilitators of the FP guideline use in the selected FP services.ResultsWhile the healthcare providers’ views point to a few facilitators that promote use of the guideline, more barriers were identified. The barriers included: lack of knowledge about the guideline’s existence, purpose and quality, healthcare providers’ personal religious beliefs, reliance on prior knowledge and tradition rather than protocols and guidelines, lack of availability or insufficient access to the guideline and inadequate training on how to use the guideline. Facilitators for the guideline use were ready access to the guideline, convenience and ease of implementation and incentives.ConclusionsWhile development of the guideline is an important initiative by the Ethiopian government for improving quality of care in FP services, continued use of this resource by all healthcare providers requires planning to promote facilitating factors and address barriers to use of the FP guideline. Training that includes a discussion about healthcare providers’ beliefs and traditional practices as well as other factors that reduce guideline use and increasing the sufficient number of guideline copies available at the local level, as well as translation of the guideline into local language are important to support provision of quality care in FP services.

scholarly journals Essential Nursing Competencies for Genetics and Genomics: Implications for Critical Care

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. e1-e7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynnette Howington ◽  
Kristina Riddlesperger ◽  
Dennis J. Cheek
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Chronic Illnesses ◽  
Genetic Knowledge ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Nursing Organizations ◽  
Genetics And Genomics

The implications of genetics and genomics for critical care nurses are becoming more evident, not only in the care provided but also in the numerous medications administered. Genetic causes are being discovered for an increasing number of chronic illnesses and diseases, such as Huntington disease. Because of the scientific and pharmacological advances, leading nursing organizations, such as the American Nurses Association, have established competencies in genetic knowledge for nurses. Such competencies help ensure quality care. Recent advances in the pharmacogenomics of therapy for human immunodeficiency virus disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and malignant hyperthermia have indicated a genetic linkage; therefore treatments are targeted toward the genetic aspect of the abnormality. Critical care nurses need knowledge of these genetic conditions and of medications affected by genetic factors.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document