Critical care nurse
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Practice habits continue in clinical practice despite the availability of research and other forms of evidence that should be used to guide critical care practice interventions. This article is based on a presentation at the 2014 National Teaching Institute of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. The article is part of a series of articles that challenge critical care nurses to examine the evidence guiding nursing practice interventions. ⋯ Daily interruption of sedation and judicious use of sedatives are appropriate in most patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Traditional chest physiotherapy does not help children with pneumonia, bronchiolitis, or asthma and does not prevent atelectasis after extubation. Critical care nurses are challenged to evaluate their individual practice and to adopt current evidence-based practice interventions into their daily practice.
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Critical care nurse · Apr 2015
Review Case ReportsBiventricular pacemakers in patients with heart failure.
Patients with heart failure may benefit from implantation of a biventricular pacemaker. This article discusses the indications for biventricular pacemaker implantation and the assessment of patients with biventricular pacemakers. Biventricular pacemakers require more assessments than do traditional single- or dual-chamber pacemakers.
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Of the 250 000 patients who undergo major cardiac operations in the United States annually, 0.7% to 2.9% will experience a postoperative cardiac arrest. Although Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) is the standard approach to management of cardiac arrest in the United States, it has significant limitations in these patients. The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) has endorsed a new guideline specific to resuscitation after cardiac surgery that advises important, evidence-based deviations from ACLS and is under consideration in the United States. ⋯ Key to this approach is the rapid elimination of reversible causes of arrest, followed by either defibrillation or pacing (as appropriate) before external cardiac compressions that can damage the sternotomy, cautious use of epinephrine owing to potential rebound hypertension, and prompt resternotomy (within 5 minutes) to promote optimal cerebral perfusion with internal massage, if prior interventions are unsuccessful. These techniques are relatively simple, reproducible, and easily mastered in Cardiac Surgical Unit-Advanced Life Support courses. Resuscitation of patients after heart surgery presents a unique opportunity to achieve high survival rates with key modifications to ACLS that warrant adoption in the United States.
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Critical care nurse · Apr 2015
Review Case ReportsFecal Microbiota Transplant to Treat Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infections.
The prevalence of recurrent or refractory Clostridium difficile infection has been steadily increasing since 2000. Consequently, alternative treatments to the standard antibiotic therapies are now being considered. ⋯ With a better understanding of the intricacies of the colonic microbiome and its role in colonic physiology and pathophysiology, critical care nurses will recognize that fecal microbiota transplant has the potential to become the standard of care for treatment of recurrent or refractory C difficile infection. The American College of Gastroenterology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America provide the latest treatment guidelines for care of patients with these clostridial infections.