Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Jun 2014
Designing a critical care nurse-led rapid response team using only available resources: 6 years later.
Rapid response teams have been introduced to intervene in the care of patients whose condition deteriorates unexpectedly by bringing clinical experts quickly to the patient's bedside. Evidence supporting the need to overcome failure to deliver optimal care in hospitals is robust; whether rapid response teams demonstrate benefit by improving patient safety and reducing the occurrence of adverse events remains controversial. ⋯ A cost-neutral structure for a rapid response team led by a nurse from the intensive care unit was implemented with the goal of reducing cardiopulmonary arrests occurring outside the intensive care unit. The results of 6 years' experience indicate that a sustainable and effective rapid response team response can be put into practice without increasing costs or adding positions and can decrease the percentage of cardiopulmonary arrests occurring outside the intensive care unit.
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Critical care nurse · Jun 2014
Smartphone Applications: Potential Tools for Use in Preparing for CCRN Certification Examinations.
Recent advances in smartphone technology now allow clinicians to use commercially produced applications when studying for nursing certification examinations. The quality of currently available CCRN review applications varies in this first generation of products. ⋯ Weaknesses found in the applications evaluated include poorly written and edited content, questions limited to rote memorization rather than application and analysis of knowledge, and content too basic or outside the scope of experienced critical care nursing practice. A list of important factors for consumers to consider before purchase is provided.