Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Oct 2021
Promoting Early Mobility in Patients After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: An Evidence-Based Protocol.
Aortic stenosis is prevalent among older adults and is commonly treated with transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Both high- and low-risk patients benefit from early mobility and discharge after this procedure; however, hospital protocols to improve patient mobility and shorten hospital stays have not been systematically implemented. ⋯ Implementation of the post-transcatheter aortic valve replacement protocol was associated with significant improvement in overall and postprocedure length of stay and improved quality of life. Additional work is needed to examine strategies to ensure safe next-day discharge.
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Critical care nurse · Oct 2021
Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing Program to Reduce Health Care-Associated Infections in Both Critically Ill and Non-Critically Ill Patients.
Critical care nurses take care of patients with complicated, comorbid, and compromised conditions. These patients are at risk for health care-associated infections, which affect patients' lives and health care systems in various ways. ⋯ A comprehensive daily 4% chlorhexidine gluconate bathing program can be implemented with standardized protocols and detailed instructions and can significantly reduce the incidence of health care-associated infections in intensive care unit and non-intensive care unit hospital settings.
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Critical care nurse · Oct 2021
Targeted Temperature Management Protocol in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Project.
In patients with acute neurological injury, abrupt temperature change exacerbates increased intracranial pressures and negatively affects perfusion pressure and cerebral blood flow. Critical care nurses must provide coordinated and effective interventions to maintain normothermia without precipitating shivering immediately after acute neurological injury in pediatric patients. ⋯ Creation and implementation of a targeted temperature management protocol increased nurses' documented use of body surface cooling to manage hyperthermia in pediatric intensive care unit patients with acute neurological injury.
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The development of the Critical Care Beacon Collaborative to achieve meaningful recognition. ⋯ The Critical Care Beacon Collaborative resulted in a Beacon Award for each unit and important staff outcomes. This article describes the organization, the process before the Critical Care Beacon Collaborative convened and the desired state, and the methods used to achieve our goal. It also discusses unit- and service-level stakeholder involvement. The successes, lessons learned, sustainability, and growth of the Critical Care Beacon Collaborative are shared to assist readers who aspire to pursue a Beacon Award.
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The use of telehealth technology in various health care settings continues to expand. Such technology allows intensive care units to monitor patients living in remote locations and to intervene early when a patient's condition declines or a critical event occurs. The use of telehealth can also support nurses and help meet staffing challenges, which have increased in intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, however, there are no formal requirements for telehealth education in nursing education or for telehealth orientation in nursing practice. ⋯ Completion of the telehealth curriculum or a formal telehealth orientation session may provide nurses with an understanding of the principles of telehealth and the skills needed to provide high-quality patient care using telehealth best practices. As the use of telehealth continues to expand, nursing education and practice should work together to address the needs of the nursing workforce and staffing challenges, specifically in the intensive care unit setting.