Neuromonitoring Indications and Utility in the Intensive Care Unit

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 30-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Harris
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Care Setting ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Sonography ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Neurologically Impaired ◽  
Care Nurse ◽  
Limited Applicability ◽  
Neurologically Impaired Patients

Information on the use of neuromonitoring in intensive care units is scattered but significant. Nurses who do not care for neurologically impaired patients on a daily basis may not have a strong understanding of the utility of various neuromonitoring techniques, why they are used, or how they are interpreted. Two main types of neuromonitoring that are frequently seen but poorly understood are reviewed here: transcranial Doppler sonography and electrophysiology. Information on these 2 techniques tends to be either superficial with limited applicability to the critical care setting or very technical. This review provides information about neuromonitoring to help guide critical care nurses providing care to neurologically impaired patients. (Critical Care Nurse. 2014;34[3]:30–40)

Complementary Health Practitioners in the Acute and Critical Care Setting: Nursing Considerations

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Kramlich
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Care Setting ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Therapeutic Touch ◽  
Pet Therapy ◽  
Care Nurse ◽  
Critical Care Nurse ◽  
Complementary Health Approaches ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Healing Environments

In response to the rising demand by patients and their families for complementary health approaches, hospitals are increasingly integrating complementary health approaches with their conventional medical practices to create healing environments. Results of the 2010 Complementary and Alternative Medicine Survey of Hospitals indicated that the top 6 inpatient modalities included pet therapy, massage therapy, music or art therapy, guided imagery, relaxation therapy, and Reiki and therapeutic touch. Whether complementary health approaches are provided by complementary health practitioners through hospital-based integrative medicine programs, volunteer practitioners, or bedside nurses, the regulatory, legal, ethical, and safety concerns remain constant. Previous articles in this column of Critical Care Nurse provided an overview of complementary health approaches that nurses may encounter in their practices, with specific attention to implications for acute and critical care nurses, as well as important legal, ethical, safety, quality, and financial implications that acute and critical care nurses should consider when integrating complementary health approaches with conventional care. This column provides the acute and critical care nurse with key information about validation of credentials, experience, and competence of nurses and volunteers providing complementary health approaches, as well as about institutional policies and scope of practice.

Critical Care Nurse Burnout in Veterans Health Administration: Relation to Clinician and Patient Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 435-442
Author(s):  
David C. Mohr ◽  
Lakshmana Swamy ◽  
Edwin S. Wong ◽  
Meredith Mealer ◽  
Marc Moss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Patient Outcomes ◽  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Care Nurse ◽  
Critical Care Nurse ◽  
Nurse Burnout

Background Critical care nurses have a burnout rate among the highest of any nursing field. Nurse burnout may impact care quality. Few studies have considered how temporal patterns may influence outcomes. Objective To test a longitudinal model of burnout clusters and associations with patient and clinician outcomes. Methods An observational study analyzed data from annual employee surveys and administrative data on patient outcomes at 111 Veterans Health Administration intensive care units from 2013 through 2017. Site-level burnout rates among critical care nurses were calculated from survey responses about emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Latent trajectory analysis was applied to identify clusters of facilities with similar burnout patterns over 5 years. Regression analysis was used to analyze patient and employee outcomes by burnout cluster and organizational context measures. Outcomes of interest included patient outcomes (30-day standardized mortality rate and observed minus expected length of stay) for 2016 and 2017 and clinician outcomes (intention to leave and employee satisfaction) from 2013 through 2017. Results Longitudinal analysis revealed 3 burnout clusters among the 111 sites: low (n = 37), medium (n = 68), and high (n = 6) burnout. Compared with sites in the low-burnout cluster, those in the high-burnout cluster had longer patient stays, higher employee turnover intention, and lower employee satisfaction in bivariate models but not in multivariate models. Conclusions In this multiyear, multisite study, critical care nurse burnout was associated with key clinician and patient outcomes. Efforts to address burnout among nurses may improve patient and employee outcomes.

Ward visits- one essential step in intensive care follow-up. An interview study with critical care nurses’ and ward nurses’

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Häggström ◽  
Cajsa Fjellner ◽  
Marie Öhman ◽  
Malin Rising Holmström
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Interview Study ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Essential Step

scholarly journals Family Behaviors as Unchanging Obstacles in End-of-Life Care: 16-Year Comparative Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. e81-e91
Author(s):  
Renea L. Beckstrand ◽  
Jasmine B. Jenkins ◽  
Karlen E. Luthy ◽  
Janelle L. B. Macintosh
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Over Time

Background Critical care nurses routinely care for dying patients. Research on obstacles in providing end-of-life care has been conducted for more than 20 years, but change in such obstacles over time has not been examined. Objective To determine whether the magnitude scores of obstacles and helpful behaviors regarding end-of-life care have changed over time. Methods In this cross-sectional survey study, questionnaires were sent to 2000 randomly selected members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Obstacle and helpful behavior items were analyzed using mean magnitude scores. Current data were compared with data gathered in 1999. Results Of the 2000 questionnaires mailed, 509 usable responses were received. Six obstacle magnitude scores increased significantly over time, of which 4 were related to family issues (not accepting the poor prognosis, intrafamily fighting, overriding the patient’s end-of-life wishes, and not understanding the meaning of the term lifesaving measures). Two were related to nurse issues. Seven obstacles decreased in magnitude, including poor design of units, overly restrictive visiting hours, and physicians avoiding conversations with families. Four helpful behavior magnitude scores increased significantly over time, including physician agreement on patient care and family access to the patient. Three helpful behavior items decreased in magnitude, including intensive care unit design. Conclusions The same end-of-life care obstacles that were reported in 1999 are still present. Obstacles related to family behaviors increased significantly, whereas obstacles related to intensive care unit environment or physician behaviors decreased significantly. These results indicate a need for better end-of-life education for families and health care providers.

scholarly journals Practice of Expert Critical Care Nurses in Situations of Prognostic Conflict at the End of Life

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 480-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine McBride Robichaux ◽  
Angela P. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Realistic Picture ◽  
Inappropriate Treatment ◽  
Expert Nurses ◽  
End Of Life Decision

• Background Prolonging the living-dying process with inappropriate treatment is a profoundly disturbing ethical issue for nurses in many practice areas, including the intensive care unit. Despite the frequent occurrence of such distressing events, research suggests that critical care nurses assume a limited role in end-of-life decision making and care planning. • Objectives To explore the practice of expert critical care nurses in end-of-life conflicts and to describe actions taken when the nurses thought continued aggressive medical interventions were not warranted. • Methods A qualitative design was used with narrative analysis of interview data that had a temporal ordering of events. Interviews were conducted with 21 critical care nurses from 7 facilities in the southwestern United States who were nominated as experts by their colleagues. • Results Three recurrent narrative plots were derived: protecting or speaking for the patient, presenting a realistic picture, and experiencing frustration and resignation. Narratives of protecting or speaking for the patient concerned preventing further technological intrusion and thus permitting a dignified death. Presenting a realistic picture involved helping patients’ family members reframe the members’ sense of the potential for recovery. Inability to affect a patient’s situation was expressed in narratives of frustration and resignation. • Conclusions The transition from curative to end-of-life care in the intensive care unit is often fraught with ambiguity and anguish. The expert nurses demonstrated the ability and willingness to actively protect and advocate for their vulnerable patients even in situations in which the nurses’ actions did not influence the outcomes.

Eliciting critical care nurses’ beliefs regarding physical restraint use

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1458-1472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Via-Clavero ◽  
Marta Sanjuán-Naváis ◽  
Marta Romero-García ◽  
Laura de la Cueva-Ariza ◽  
Gemma Martínez-Estalella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Theory Of Planned Behaviour ◽  
Physical Restraint ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Control Beliefs ◽  
Physical Restraints ◽  
Planned Behaviour ◽  
Restraint Use ◽  
And Control

Background: Despite the reported harms and ethical concerns about physical restraint use in the critical care settings, nurses’ intention to apply them is unequal across countries. According to the theory of planned behaviour, eliciting nurses’ beliefs regarding the use of physical restraints would provide additional social information about nurses’ intention to perform this practice. Aim: To explore the salient behavioural, normative and control beliefs underlying the intention of critical care nurses to use physical restraints from the theory of planned behaviour. Research design: A belief elicitation study was conducted. Participants and research context: Twenty-six critical care nurses were purposively sampled across gender, work-shift patterns and professional experience in five intensive care units of three hospitals in Spain. Data were obtained from a nine-item open-ended questionnaire and a focus group. Deductive content analysis was performed. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the hospital ethics committee. Participants were assured their participation was voluntary. Findings: Nurses framed the use of restraints as a way of prioritising patients’ physical safety. They referred to contextual factors as the main reasons to justify their application. Nurses perceived that their decision is approved by other colleagues and the patients’ relatives. Some nurses started advocating against their use, but felt powerless to change this unsafe practice within an unfavourable climate. Control beliefs were linked to patients’ medical condition, availability of alternative solutions, analgo-sedation policies and work organisation. Discussion: Safety arguments based on the surrounding work environment were discussed. Conclusion: Nurses’ behavioural and control beliefs were related. Nurses should be trained in alternatives to physical restraint use. The impact of analgo-sedation protocols, relatives’ involvement, leadership support and intensive care unit restraint policies on physical restraint practices need to be revised. Further research is required to explore why nurses do not act with moral courage to change this harmful practice.

Pain in Intensive Care Unit: Italian critical care nurses' best practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro GALAZZI ◽  
Gian D. GIUSTI ◽  
Nicola PAGNUCCI ◽  
Stefano BAMBI ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Critical Care Nurses

Decisions Made By Critical Care Nurses During Mechanical Ventilation and Weaning in an Australian Intensive Care Unit

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Rose ◽  
Sioban Nelson ◽  
Linda Johnston ◽  
Jeffrey J. Presneill
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Mechanical Ventilation ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Multiple Organ ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Royal Melbourne Hospital ◽  
Adult Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Fraction Of Inspired Oxygen

Background Responsibilities of critical care nurses for management of mechanical ventilation may differ among countries. Organizational interventions, including weaning protocols, may have a variable impact in settings that differ in nursing autonomy and interdisciplinary collaboration. Objective To characterize the role of Australian critical care nurses in the management of mechanical ventilation. Methods A 3-month, prospective cohort study was performed. All clinical decisions related to mechanical ventilation in a 24-bed, combined medical-surgical adult intensive care unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a university-affiliated teaching hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, were determined. Results Of 474 patients admitted during the 81-day study period, 319 (67%) received mechanical ventilation. Death occurred in 12.5% (40/319) of patients. Median durations of mechanical ventilation and intensive care stay were 0.9 and 1.9 days, respectively. A total of 3986 ventilation and weaning decisions (defined as any adjustment to ventilator settings, including mode change; rate or pressure support adjustment; and titration of tidal volume, positive end-expiratory pressure, or fraction of inspired oxygen) were made. Of these, 2538 decisions (64%) were made by nurses alone, 693 (17%) by medical staff, and 755 (19%) by nurses and staff in collaboration. Decisions made exclusively by nurses were less common for patients with predominantly respiratory disease or multiple organ dysfunction than for other patients. Conclusions In this unit, critical care nurses have high levels of responsibility for, and autonomy in, the management of mechanical ventilation and weaning. Revalidation of protocols for ventilation practices in other clinical contexts may be needed.

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