AACN advanced critical care
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Awareness of patient-centered and family-centered care research can assist clinicians to promote patient and family engagement in the intensive care unit. Project Dispatch (Disseminating Patient-Centered Outcomes Research to Healthcare Professionals) was developed to disseminate patient- and family-centered care research and encourage its application in clinical practice. ⋯ The project's webpages received more than 5200 page views with over 4000 unique visitors from 36 countries. The podcast series has download numbers ranging from 35 596 for "Family Presence in the ICU" to 25 843 for "Improving Patient and Family satisfaction in the ICU" and 22 148 for "Family Satisfaction in the ICU." The project therefore successfully developed resources for critical care health care professionals to promote the patient- and family-centric perspective.
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Delirium, the most frequent complication of hospitalized older adults, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs), can result in increased mortality rates and length of stay. Nurses are neither consistently identifying nor managing delirium in these patients. The purpose of this study was to explore ICU nurses' identification of delirium, actions they would take for patients with signs or symptoms of delirium, and beliefs about delirium assessment and management. ⋯ Descriptive and content analyses revealed that nurses did not consistently identify delirium; their actions varied in different vignettes. Nurses believed that they needed adequate staffing, balanced workload, interprofessional collaboration, and established policy and protocols to identify and manage delirium successfully. Research is needed to determine if implementing these changes increases recognition and decreases consequences of delirium.