Dimensions of critical care nursing : DCCN
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Jul 2021
Use of Intensive Care Unit Diary as an Integrated Tool in an Italian General Intensive Care Unit: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.
The aim of this study was to investigate the implementation of an intensive care unit (ICU) diary in an Italian general ICU. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first Italian report about the introduction of an ICU diary. The diaries were easily implemented in our clinical practice as a "low-cost" initiative. In our study, nurses and participants' relatives and friends wrote a similar number of entries in each analyzed diary. This project could be effective in reducing survivors' delirium and post-traumatic stress disorder and in implementing mutual understanding between clinical staff and relatives during ICU stay.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Sep 2020
The Arts Unique to Critical Care Nursing: Hard to Measure But Breathtakingly Manifest in a Pandemic.
: This commentary begins as a question and makes a call for action. The question is: "Are ICU (intensive care unit) patients' outcomes related to the degree to which the patients' nurses practice the art of nursing unique to critical care?" When nurses address patients' basic human needs as opposed to tending solely to tasks, it likely affects the patients' vital signs, need for analgesia or sedation, adverse effects of stress, and short- and long-term outcomes. ⋯ The call for action is "create a tool to measure and study the effect of the art of nursing unique to the ICU on patient outcomes." The current COVID crisis has created tremendous visibility and awareness illuminating the role of the nurses and other health care providers. It is quite fitting, as this is also the year of the nurse and the midwife, that we celebrate and articulate much of what is unique to the art of our practice.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Jul 2020
ReviewSleep Deprivation Etiologies Among Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: Literature Review.
Sleep deprivation among patients is a common problem in the intensive care unit (ICU). Studies have tried to find the etiologies of sleep deprivation. Poor sleep quality in the ICU has effects such as delirium, weakening the wound healing, and anxiety. Researches have concluded that the etiologies for sleep deprivation are multifactorial. ⋯ Sleep deprivation etiologies are multifactorial and have several effects on ICU patients. Sleep protocol and staff training should be introduced to reduce unnecessary interventions by ICU staff. Tele-ICU monitoring can also be introduced to reduce unnecessary interventions where clinicians can monitor patients remotely and therefore enhance sleep in the ICU. During their stay in the ICU, patients can be instructed to wear earplugs and also have aromatherapy massage to reduce stress and enhance sleep quality. More research on the physical pain and the psychological factors using objective methods should be conducted in the future.