Journal of advanced nursing
-
This paper is a report of a study evaluating the perceived skills of nursing and allied healthcare professionals in providing psychosocial and physical rehabilitation advice, including the effect of years of burn injury experience. ⋯ Strategies to enhance effective staff/patient communication should form an integral part of staff education. The psychosocial needs of patients must be incorporated as an essential part of such strategies.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Daily interruption of sedative infusions in an adult medical-surgical intensive care unit: randomized controlled trial.
This article is a report of a study conducted to determine if a nursing-implemented protocol of daily interruption of sedative infusions vs. sedation as directed by the intensive care unit team would decrease duration of mechanical ventilation. ⋯ The nursing-implemented protocol of daily interruption of sedative infusions was neither beneficial nor harmful compared with usual practice, which has as its primary target the earliest possible awakening of patients.
-
This paper is a report of a study to identify predictors of critical care admission in emergency department patients triaged as low to moderate urgency that may be apparent early in the emergency department episode of care. Background. Observations of clinical practice show that a number of emergency department patients triaged as low to moderate urgency require critical care admission, raising questions about the relationship between illness severity and physiological status early in the emergency department episode of care. ⋯ Derangements in temperature, respiratory rate and heart appear to increase risk of critical care admission. Further work using a prospective approach is needed to establish which physiological parameters have the highest predictive validity, the level(s) of physiological abnormality with highest clinical utility, and the optimal timing for collection of physiological data.
-
This paper is a report of a study conducted to examine whether continuous interface pressure monitoring of postoperative patients in an intensive care unit is feasible in clinical practice. ⋯ Continuous monitoring of the intensity and duration of whole-body interface pressure using the KINOTEX sensor is feasible in intensive care patients.
-
Multicenter Study
The emotional experiences of family carers in Huntington disease.
This paper is a report of a study conducted to examine the emotional experience of caregiving by family carers of people with Huntington disease and to describe strategies they used to deal with that experience. ⋯ Emotional distress can compromise the well-being of family carers, who attempt to maintain multiple roles. Nurses should monitor carer mental health, identify sources of emotional distress and support effective strategies used by carers to mediate distress.