Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Aug 2021
Triggers and Interventions of Patients Who Require Medical Emergency Team Reviews: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Single Versus Multiple Reviews.
Medical emergency teams constitute part of the escalation protocol of early warning systems in many hospitals. The literature indicates that medical emergency teams may reduce hospital mortality and cardiac arrest. A greater understanding of pathways of patients who experience multiple medical emergency team reviews will inform clinical decision-making. ⋯ Patients requiring multiple medical emergency team reviews have higher mortality. Surgical patients have a higher risk of requiring multiple reviews. Hospitals need to include more details on surgical patients when auditing medical emergency team activation.
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Critical care nurse · Aug 2021
An Evidence-Based Initiative to Reduce Alarm Fatigue in a Burn Intensive Care Unit.
Alarm fatigue occurs when nurses are exposed to multiple alarms of mixed significance and become desensitized to alarms to the point that a critical alarm may receive no response or a delayed response. In burn intensive care units, reducing the risk of alarm fatigue is uniquely challenging because of the critically ill patient population and the nature of burn skin injuries. Nurses and the interdisciplinary team can become fatigued and desensitized to alarms, decreasing response rates for necessary interventions. ⋯ A quality improvement initiative based on evidence-based practice can contribute to a sustainable reduction in nonactionable and false alarms, ultimately improving patient safety.
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Critical care nurse · Aug 2021
Experiences of Patients Using a Fitness Tracker to Promote Ambulation Before a Heart Transplant.
Patients who have an intra-aortic balloon pump or a pulmonary artery catheter with vasoactive infusion while awaiting heart transplant have reduced mobility due to heart failure and activity restrictions. Stroke volume, respiratory capacity, and muscle strength decrease, and sleep disturbances occur. Patients require motivation to enhance ambulation. ⋯ Participants were happy to get a fitness tracker and motivated to be active and increase activity/ambulation. Patients expressed benefits from walks: better sleep, more stamina, and feeling stronger. They believed that this intervention could have potential benefit for future patients.