Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Dec 2015
Prone Positioning of Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
Effectively treating critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a challenge for many intensive care nurses. Multiple disease processes and injuries contribute to the complexity of ARDS and often complicate therapy. ⋯ Educating nursing and medical staff on the use of prone positioning allows ease of patient placement with an emphasis on safety of both patients and staff. Scrupulous assessment of patients coupled with judicious timing of prone positioning expedites weaning from ventilatory support and contributes to positive outcomes for patients.
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Critical care nurse · Dec 2015
Making It Meaningful: Finding Quality Improvement Projects Worthy of Your Time, Effort, and Expertise.
This article is the second of a 4-part quality improvement resource series for critical care nurses interested in implementing system process or performance improvement projects. The article is a brainstorming session on paper, written to assist nurses and managers in identifying possible quality improvement projects that are meaningful to them and will make a real difference in their critical care units. ⋯ Thus specific patient care and safety challenges must be identified and prioritized individually for quality improvement by each unit. Projects also must be manageable and within the scope of time, effort, and expertise available-no quality improvement project is "too small" if it is applicable to your critical care area and will improve outcomes.