Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Feb 2015
ReviewNonpharmacological interventions to prevent delirium: an evidence-based systematic review.
Development of delirium in critical care patients is associated with increased length of stay, hospital costs, and mortality. Delirium occurs across all inpatient settings, although critically ill patients who require mechanical ventilation are at the highest risk. Overall, evidence to support the use of antipsychotics to either prevent or treat delirium is lacking, and these medications can have adverse effects. The pain, agitation, and delirium guidelines of the American College of Critical Care Medicine provide the strongest level of recommendation for the use of nonpharmacological approaches to prevent delirium, but questions remain about which nonpharmacological interventions are beneficial.
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Critical care nurse · Feb 2015
Case ReportsUse of a nursing checklist to facilitate implementation of therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest.
Therapeutic hypothermia has become a widely accepted intervention that is improving neurological outcomes following return of spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest. This intervention is highly complex but infrequently used, and prompt implementation of the many steps involved, especially achieving the target body temperature, can be difficult. A checklist was introduced to guide nurses in implementing the therapeutic hypothermia protocol during the different phases of the intervention (initiation, maintenance, rewarming, and normothermia) in an intensive care unit. ⋯ Observations of practice and feedback from nursing staff in all units confirm the utility of the checklist. Use of the checklist has helped reduce the time from admission to the unit to reaching the target temperature and the time from admission to continuous electroencephalographic monitoring in the cardiac intensive care unit. Evaluation of patients' outcomes as related to compliance with the protocol interventions is ongoing.