Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Feb 2020
Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections are common health care-associated infections and have been associated with increased mortality, morbidity, length of stay, and cost. Prevention strategies are grouped into bundles focused on reducing unnecessary catheter use and promptly removing urinary catheters. Before intervention in the study institution, no urinary catheters were unnecessarily used and compliance with the catheter-associated urinary tract infection bundle was 84%. ⋯ Targeted rounding for pediatric patients with an indwelling urinary catheter is an effective and sustainable strategy to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections. The ease of implementation for this intervention lends itself to generalizability to other patient populations.
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Critical care nurse · Feb 2020
Protecting Patient Safety and Preventing Modifiable Complications After Acute Ischemic Stroke.
Protecting patient safety and preventing modifiable complications after acute ischemic stroke. ⋯ Stroke physiology and stroke-specific interventions that can enable nurses to reduce the risk of falls, dysphagia, malnutrition, dehydration, altered glucose metabolism, device-related infections, aspiration pneumonia, delirium, and depression.
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Critical care nurse · Feb 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialEffect of Eye Masks on Pain and Sleep Quality in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Impaired sleep is a common complaint among patients undergoing major surgery and may be a contributing factor in postoperative pain. The provision of eye masks to patients after cardiac surgery may reduce postoperative pain through improvements in sleep quality. ⋯ Nocturnal eye masks are a simple, low-risk, low-cost intervention that may contribute to reductions in perceived pain in cardiac surgery patients.
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Critical care nurse · Feb 2020
Intra-abdominal Hypertension and the Open Abdomen: Nursing Guidelines From the Abdominal Compartment Society.
Intra-abdominal hypertension has been identified as an independent risk factor for death in critically ill patients. Known risk factors for intra-abdominal hypertension indicate that intra-abdominal pressures should be measured and monitored. ⋯ The purpose of this article is to describe assessments and interventions for managing intra-abdominal hypertension and open abdomen that are within the scope of practice for direct-care nurses. These guidelines provide direction to critical care nurses caring for these patients.